vs.
For all practical purposes they were dead since tectonics didn't come along until 40 years after his work was first translated into English. He proposed it long before that event. Working scientists (with all their degrees and so forth) were undoubtedly in their late 20s and early 30s at the youngest when they first read WEggener's thesis. 40 years later they were like some of the elder denezens of Free Republic ~ still writing, but trapped in their crystalized memories, unable to adjust to the new world.
ah, so now you move from a doubled-absolute statement-as-fact into equivocation and pure speculation. very nice. good day.
Prior to that plate tectonics had its supporters, but it was not a required belief.