#2: Alfred Wegener
It’s not particularly out of the ordinary in our history for leading scholars or artists to have their work acclaimed only after their passing. Even so, each instance is in itself still remarkable when you understand that the person responsible for work that has shaped our world never got to witness that themself.
Having said that, this is one innovation that might not be so readily apparent to those of us less well-versed in the physical sciences. Put simply, Continental Drift Theory is the theory that Earth’s continents move relatively to each other over time – how they used to all be connected and are gradually floating away from each other.