Alfred Rittmann was a world's leading volcanologist at his time. His book "Vulkane und ihre Tätigkeit" was translated in five languages (2 ed.) and it was a standard work on volcanism. He drew the right conclusion that orogenic uplift volcanism (igneous rocks of the calc series), lacks alkaline basalts (igneous rocks of the sodic series). At the annual meeting of the German Geological Society in January 1939, he was right opposing the idea that the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Mid-Atlantic Ridge

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a mid-ocean ridge, a divergent tectonic plate boundary located along the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, and part of the longest mountain range in the world. It separates the Eurasian Plate and North American Plate in the North Atlantic, and the African Plate from the South...

 was a orogenic uplift by compression, and his opposition to disregard the Continental drift

Continental drift

Continental drift is the movement of the Earth's continents relative to each other. The hypothesis that continents 'drift' was first put forward by Abraham Ortelius in 1596 and was fully developed by Alfred Wegener in 1912...

 theory raised doubts. He was elected IAV

International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior

The International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior, or IAVCEI, is an association that represents the primary international focus for research in volcanology, efforts to mitigate volcanic disasters, and research into closely related disciplines, such as igneous...

 President (IAV at that time) for three periods (1954–1963).

Quote

Translation