Kirtley F. Mather (1888-1978) was one of the most prominent geologists of the twentieth century. He was the Head of the Geology Department at Harvard University and served as the President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was elected four times to be the President of the American Academy of Arts and Science. He was one of the few scientists who stood up to Joseph McCarthy. He prepared the geological deposition for Clarence Darrow in the famous “Scope’s Monkey Trial” when the theory of evolution was challenged in the courts. Stephen Jay Gould regarded Professor Mather as his mentor. In his Foreword to Hapgood’s book, Mather wrote:
“The numerous unsolved problems to which Mr. Hapgood directs attention should be the subjects of intensified debate among scientists in very part of the world.”
Both Mather and Einstein knew something of the philosophy of science. They understood that the unsolved problem is the basic unit of scientific exploration. Theories are like nets designed to capture and explain problems. Hence the importance that Mather gave to the earth crust displacement theory’s ability to address “numerous unsolved problems.”
A brief look at some of the chapter titles of Hapgood’s Path of the Pole demonstrates the unsolved problems that he was addressing:
Chapter 2: The Failure to Explain the Ice Ages.
Chapter 3: The Failure to Explain Climatic Change.
Chapter 5: The Violent Life of the Great Ice Sheet.
Chapter 6: The Sudden Melting of the Ice Sheet.
Chapter 10: The Extinction of the Mammoths and the Masodons.
Chapter 11: The Evidence of Violent Extinction in South America.
None of these problems can be adequately explained by plate tectonics. That doesn’t mean that plate tectonics is wrong. It simply means that in order to address serious unsolved problems, like those listed above, we need an additional theory of how the earth works. Plate tectonic explains gradual changes and earth crust displacement explains abrupt changes. “The ideas are not mutually exclusive but rather complementary.”
http://www.flem-ath.com/2009/08/plate-tectonics-vesus-earth-crust-displacement/