Hess, Harry

[person]

American marine geologist born in New York, New York (1906-1969). Hess was key scientist in the establishment of the theory of plate tectonics in the early 1960s. From observations he made of the seafloor while serving in the US Navy during World War II, he developed the idea of seafloor spreading, which he published in 1962 in the paper "History of Ocean Basins."