In the early 1900s, Professor Eduard Suess used the theory to explain the 1908 Messina earthquake, being of the opinion that the Earth's crust was gradually shrinking everywhere. He also predicted that eruptions would follow the earthquake and tsunami in Southern Italy. He attributed the earthquake to the sinking of the Earth's crust, in the zone of which the Aeolian Islands are the center. He declared that as the process of sinking went on, the Calabrian and Sicilian highlands on either side of the Straits of Messina would be submerged, only the highest peaks remaining above the sea. The strait, he said, would thereby be greatly widened.