Hess, Harry Hammond

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Hess, Harry Hammond (1906–69) An American geophysicist from Princeton University, Hess made important contributions to the theory of plate tectonics. He devised the concept of sea-floor spreading (see also DIETZ, ROBERT SINCLAIR), and discovered and named guyots. His Essay in Geopoetry (1960, 1962) was an attempt to link the features of the sea floor in a common hypothesis, in which he proposed that the continents move passively on rafts or rigid plates.

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