Question 1

True or false: Hess was a professor at Princeton University for most of his career.

Accepted Answer

True. Hess taught geology at Princeton from 1934 until his death in 1969, influencing a generation of Earth scientists.

Question 2

True or false: Hess proposed that continents plow through the ocean floor like ships.

Accepted Answer

False. This was Alfred Wegener's idea, not Hess's. Hess instead proposed seafloor spreading, where new crust forms at mid-ocean ridges.

Question 3

True or false: Hess believed the Earth's mantle was solid and immobile.

Accepted Answer

False. Hess proposed convection currents in the mantle drove seafloor spreading, implying a mobile, not immobile, mantle.

Question 4

True or false: Hess's theory of seafloor spreading was inspired by his work on the Apollo moon missions.

Accepted Answer

False. Hess died in 1969, before Apollo 11 landed. His theory was based on WWII oceanographic data, not lunar studies.

Question 5

True or false: Hess was a Navy Reserve officer who rose to the rank of Rear Admiral.

Accepted Answer

True. After WWII, Hess remained in the Navy Reserve, eventually retiring as a Rear Admiral in the 1960s.

Question 6

True or false: Hess coined the term 'plate tectonics' to describe his theory.

Accepted Answer

False. The term 'plate tectonics' was popularized later by others like McKenzie and Parker. Hess used 'seafloor spreading' for his hypothesis.

Question 7

True or false: Hess's seafloor spreading theory was initially rejected because he had no evidence.

Accepted Answer

True. Hess lacked direct proof; his 1962 paper was speculative. Magnetic striping later provided crucial evidence, confirming his hypothesis.

Question 8

True or false: Hess discovered the Mid-Atlantic Ridge while serving as a submarine commander in WWII.

Accepted Answer

True. As captain of the USS Cape Johnson, Hess used sonar to map the seafloor, revealing the Mid-Atlantic Ridge's flat-topped seamounts, which he called guyots.

Harry Hammond Hess Trivia Questions