The original plate tectonic theory was proposed by Alfred Wegener in 1912, after which it got recognition form the scientific community only after the publication of seafloor spreading theory of harry Hess in 1930, later on with the impact of the continental masses being spreading the theory became hit.
Thus by 1966 most of the scientists were accepting the fact that continental landmasses were one and the same some millions of years ago. hence the period from 1950 to 1970 marks as the revolutionary period of the plate tectonics.
Hense science started to realize the importance of the splitting of the continental plates that caused the orogeny of the mountains in various parts of the world.