A Symposium on Continental Drift — The Royal Society (1965)

Organized by P. M. S. Blackett, Sir Edward Bullard and S. K. Runcorn

Published by the Royal Society in 1965, A Symposium on Continental Drift documents a pivotal moment in the history of geology: the accumulation of evidence that helped transform continental drift from a disputed hypothesis into the foundation of modern plate tectonics.

The volume grew from a major Royal Society symposium held in London in March 1964. Scientists assembled evidence from paleomagnetism, geology, oceanography, geophysics, mantle convection and the structure of the ocean floor to address a question that had remained controversial since Alfred Wegener proposed continental drift decades earlier: Do the continents actually move?

Among the volume's most historically significant papers is Sir Edward Bullard, J. E. Everett and A. Gilbert Smith's “The Fit of the Continents Around the Atlantic.” Using numerical methods and computer calculations, the researchers reconstructed the continents using their submerged continental margins rather than modern coastlines. The resulting reconstruction—now commonly known as the Bullard fit—provided striking quantitative evidence that the Atlantic continents had once been joined.

The contributors read like a roster of scientists involved in the emerging plate-tectonic revolution. In addition to Bullard and S. K. Runcorn, the volume includes work by Marie Tharp and Bruce Heezen on the tectonic fabric of the Atlantic and Indian oceans, J. Tuzo Wilson on evidence for movement within the Earth, H. W. Menard on the global mid-ocean ridge system, and numerous other leading geologists and geophysicists.

The symposium's organizers were themselves major figures in twentieth-century science. Patrick M. S. Blackett was a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who became deeply involved in paleomagnetic research. S. K. Runcorn was one of the pioneers who used paleomagnetism to demonstrate relative movement of the continents. Sir Edward Bullard became one of the leading British geophysicists of the twentieth century and played an important role in establishing quantitative evidence for continental drift.

The timing makes this volume particularly remarkable. It appeared in 1965, just before the rapid synthesis of seafloor spreading, transform faults, magnetic anomalies and global seismic observations produced the modern theory of plate tectonics in the late 1960s. It therefore captures the evidence being assembled almost in real time during one of the great scientific revolutions of the twentieth century.

Originally appearing as Volume 258, No. 1088 of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series A, the symposium was also issued separately in this substantial hardcover book form because of the considerable interest generated by the meeting.

Title: A Symposium on Continental Drift
Organizers: P. M. S. Blackett, Sir Edward Bullard & S. K. Runcorn
Publisher: The Royal Society, London
Year: 1965
Series: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Series A, Vol. 258, No. 1088
Subject: Continental Drift / Plate Tectonics / Geophysics / Paleomagnetism / History of Geology

Condition: Vintage ex-library hardcover in burgundy cloth with gilt spine lettering. Library label and institutional markings are present, with rubbing and general wear consistent with age and institutional use. Interior shows some age-related toning and handling. Fold out maps are in excellent condition. Please refer to photographs for exact condition.

An important primary-source artifact from the birth of modern plate tectonics, bringing together many of the scientists and observations that fundamentally changed our understanding of the Earth.