Roberto Mantovani

Roberto Mantovani ( born March 25, 1854 in Parma, † January 10, 1933 in Paris ) was an Italian violinist and geoscientists.

Mantovani's father, Timoteo, died six Monte to Roberto's birth. His mother, Luigia Ferrari, guided him in his studies, and at the age of eleven, he was accepted as a boarder at the Royal School of Music, where he in 1872 was bestowed the title of honorary doctor. Mantovani but always preferred the exact sciences and literature before the music.

Mantovani published in 1889 and 1909 a theory of Earth expansion. He assumed that a closed continent covered the entire surface was then a much smaller earth. Through volcanic activity due to thermal expansion this continent broke apart, with the newly formed continents away from each other ever since the elevation zones continually expanded and now make up the area of the oceans. Alfred Wegener saw similarities with his own theory of continental drift and Mantovani recognized as one of his predecessors, but he did not mention Mantovani Erdexpansionshypothese. Wegener wrote:

" Mantovani in 1909 in a short article expressed ideas about continental drift and explained by cards that to some extent differ from mine, agree surprisingly so in some places but, as for example in relation to the former grouping of the southern continents to South Africa,. "