This brings to mind one of the more fascinating topics discussed in Bill Bryson's (phenomenal, wide-ranging) book A Short History of Nearly Everything. Until reading that book, I had no clue that the discovery of plate tectonics caused huge religious and philosophical turmoil similar to the discovery of natural selection. It shattered the image of Earth as a static creation of God, who of course was beneficent enough to put rivers near old cities and provide pretty consistent rain patterns near farmland, etc. etc.