F. J. Vine FRS is a British marine geologist and geophysicist and was a key contributor to the theory of plate tectonics. Vine attended St. John’s College, Cambridge, where he studied Natural Sciences (BA, 1962) and Marine Geophysics (PhD, 1965). His PhD thesis was on “Magnetism in the Seafloor,” supervised by Drummond Matthews. Having met Harry Hess, he was aware of sea floor spreading, where the ocean bed acts as a “conveyor belt” moving away from the central ridge.

Dr. D. H. Matthews FRS (like F. J. Vine) was also a British marine geologist and geophysicist and a key contributor to the theory of plate tectonics. His work, along with that of fellow Briton Fred Vine and Canadian Lawrence Morley, showed how variations in the magnetic properties of rocks forming the ocean floor could be consistent with, and ultimately help confirm, Harry Hammond Hess’s 1962 theory of seafloor spreading. In 1989, he was awarded the Geological Society of London’s highest honour, the Wollaston Medal.

Figures: 9-12, 46-48
Plate: 12
Endnotes: 31-49