text: The origins of the concept of `` hotspots '' lie in the work of J. Tuzo Wilson , who postulated in 1963 that the Hawaiian Islands result from the slow movement of a tectonic plate across a hot region beneath the surface .
simplified: J. Tuzo Wilson suggested in 1963 that volcanic chains like the Hawaiian Islands result from the slow movement of a tectonic plate across a fixed hot spot deep beneath the surface of the planet .