The term "plate tectonics", coined only thirty-five years ago, is now part of everyone's understanding of the way the earth works. The theory, research, data collection, and analysis that came together in 1967 to constitute plate tectonics is here presented by those scientists involved.

PART I THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND, 1 From Continental Drift to Plate Tectonics, PART II THE EARLY WORK: FROM PALEOMAGNETISM TO SEA FLOOR SPREADING, 2 Stripes on the Sea Floor, 3 Reversals of Fortune, 4 The Zebra Pattern, 5 On Board the Eltanin-19, 6 The Birth of Plate Tectonics, PART Ill HEAT FLOW AND SEISMOLOGY, 7 How Mobile is the Earth?, 8 Heat Flow under the Oceans, 9 Locating Earthquakes and Plate Boundaries, 10 Earthquake Seismology in the Plate Tectonics Revolution, PART IV THE PLATE MODEL, 11 Plate Tectonics: A Surprising Way to Start a Scientific Career, 12 When Plates Were Paving Stones, 13 My Conversion to Plate Tectonics, PART V FROM THE OCEANS TO THE CONTINENTS, 14 Plate Tectonics and Geology, 1965 to Today, 15 When the Plate Tectonic Revolution Met Westem North America, 16 The Coming of Plate Tectonics to the Pacific Rim, 17 From Plate Tectonics to Continental Tectonics, EPILOGUE: CONTINENTS REALLY DO MOVE, 18 Plate Tectonics: A Martian View