Ending in Ice: the Revolutionary Idea and Tragic Expedition of Alfred Wegener.

Alfred Wegener is most famous for his proposed theory of continental draft, published in 1912. At first denied and scorned, then dismissed as unimportant, followed by eventual acceptance. His other fame relates to his several research expeditions seeking to understand the climatic influence of Greenland weather. He died on the ice trying to rescue his scientific colleagues isolated at Eismitte in 1930. Unlike so many explorers he was dedicated to his scientific endeavors.

p. 13 has a picture of Wegener and his wife in his book-lined study in Marburg (1913).

p. 126: One of their pastimes, was reading from a small library with selections from science, literature, and history. Loewe liked to read aloud poems by Goethe and Schiller, and the others enjoyed his skill at reading with feeling and emotion. They agreed their isolation from the abundance of cultural stimulation in Europe had heightened their sensitivity to art and literature. They regretted that they had no way to play music in their cave, though they would occasionally sing together. One evening Sorge read aloud from a book about Scott’s disastrous experience and death in Antarctica. Hearing this story affected Georgi emotionally, and gave him a bad premonition about Wegener’s situation. He had to ask Sorge to stop reading.