:Inge Lehmann

Inge Lehmann was born on 13 May 1888 and grew up in Østerbro, a part of Copenhagen, Denmark.{{Cite web |title=Lehmann, Inge (1888–1993) {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/lehmann-inge-1888-1993 |access-date=2024-11-20 |website=www.encyclopedia.com}} Her mother, Ida Sophie Tørsleff, was a housewife; her father was experimental psychologist Alfred Georg Ludvik Lehmann (1858–1921), a pioneer in the study of experimental psychology in Denmark.{{sfn|Bolt|1997|p=287}} The Lehmann family had its roots in Bohemia; the Danish branch included barristers, politicians and engineers. Inge Lehmann's paternal grandfather laid out the first Danish telegraph line (1854) and her great-grandfather was Governor of the National Bank. Her mother's father, Hans Jakob Torsleff, belonged to an old Danish family with a priest in every generation. Members of the Tørsleff family were well-known public leaders and activists in the women's rights movement. Inge's cousins were the Minister of Trade, the chair of the Danish Women's Society, and the leader of the Danish Girl Scouts. Her younger sister Signe, who was a single mother, rose to popularity as a school superintendent.

Lehmann's parents enrolled both her and her sister at Fællesskolen in 1904, a liberal and progressive school that offered the same curriculum to both boys and girls, a practice uncommon at the time.{{Cite journal |last=Jacobsen |first=Lif |date=2022 |title=Intellectually gifted but inherently fragile – society's view of female scientists as experienced by seismologist Inge Lehmann up to 1930 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2658089366 |access-date=11 December 2023 |journal=History of Geo- and Space Sciences|volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=83–92 |doi=10.5194/hgss-13-83-2022 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2022HGSS...13...83J |id={{ProQuest|2658089366}} }} This was unusual as most schools at the time separated boys' and girls' education. The principles of gender isolation went much deeper for girls who were education-oriented. It was thought to be damaging to expose girls to mental exhaustion throughout puberty. Males were believed to be more biologically adapted for such activities and therefore, allowed to take the high school entrance exam and start upper-secondary education (high school) at 15 years old, whereas females were not allowed to do so. This policy remained in effect until 1903.

This school was led by Hanna Adler, Niels Bohr's aunt, a pioneering woman scholar and firm believer in gender equality.{{cite web |title=WiP: Herstory: Spotlight Scientist: Inge Lehmann |url=http://www.physics.purdue.edu/wip/herstory/lehmann.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160326062117/http://www.physics.purdue.edu/wip/herstory/lehmann.html |archive-date=26 March 2016 |access-date=15 October 2013 |publisher=Purdue University}}{{cite web |last=Knopoff |first=Leon |title=Lehmann, Inge |url=http://www.physics.ucla.edu/~cwp/Phase2/Lehmann,_Inge@81234567.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518012017/http://www.physics.ucla.edu/~cwp/Phase2/Lehmann,_Inge@81234567.html |archive-date=18 May 2015 |access-date=15 October 2013 |publisher=UCLA}} A year after earning her degree, Adler launched her school, inspired by innovative teaching practices in the US. Many of her female co-graduates, who were not eligible for many of the positions accessible to their male peers, were hired by Adler to teach. Women were prohibited from working in universities at the time, and the vast majority of female college graduates searched for employment as elementary schoolteachers despite obtaining degrees that allowed them to teach at the upper-secondary (high school) level. Lehmann credited her father and Hanna Adler as the most significant influences on her intellectual development.

At age 18, Lehmann achieved a first rank mark in the entrance exam for Copenhagen University. In 1907, she started her studies in mathematics, chemistry and physics at the University of Copenhagen. She continued her studies of mathematics in Cambridge from 1910 to 1911 at Newnham College. There, Lehmann faced gender-based adversities, not being allowed to fully participate in her studies, nor to achieve higher positions of education. As a result, Lehmann had a mental breakdown during her first year in 1911, and in 1912 returned to Denmark. Lehmann served as an actuarial assistant from 1911 to 1918 without attending school. She developed good computational skills in an actuary office she worked in for a few years until she resumed her studies at Copenhagen University in 1918. She completed the candidata magisterii degree in physical science and mathematics in two years, graduating in 1920. This was significant, since this degree was mostly given to male students. After a short period of time, studying mathematics at the University of Hamburg, in 1923 she accepted a position at Copenhagen University as an assistant to J.F. Steffensen, the professor of actuarial science.{{cite web |last1=Stomberg |first1=Joseph |date=13 May 2015 |title=How Inge Lehmann used earthquakes to discover the Earth's inner core |url=https://www.vox.com/2015/5/13/8595157/inge-lehmann |access-date=8 October 2021 |website=Vox}}

Lehmann had a younger sister, Harriet, who became an actress. Inge Lehmann lived by herself all her adult life. She broke off an engagement in March 1917 and decided to remain unmarried, in order to pursue an academic career, which was not an unusual choice at the time.{{cite web |title=Inge Lehmann |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/people/science-and-technology/geology-and-oceanography-biographies/inge-lehmann |website=www.encyclopedia.com}}{{cite web |title=Inge Lehmann - A Small Solid Core in the Innermost Part of the Earth |url=https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/rosetta-stones/inge-lehmann-8220-a-small-solid-core-in-the-innermost-part-of-the-earth-8221/ |website=blogs.scientificamerican.com}}

Lehmann once complained to her nephew Niels Groes about the incompetence of her male colleagues, and wrote him: "You should know how many incompetent men I had to compete with—in vain."

File:S-wave velocity.PNG: velocity of seismic S-waves in the Earth near the surface in three tectonic provinces: TNA = Tectonic North America SNA = Shield North America and ATL = North Atlantic.Figure patterned after {{cite book |title=New Theory of the Earth |author=Don L Anderson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KB3KsIPa94sC&pg=PA102 |page=102, Figure 8.6 |isbn=978-0-521-84959-3 |date=2007 |edition=2nd |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}; Original figure attributed to Grand and Helmberger (1984)]]

In 1925, Lehmann was assigned to be the assistant of seismologist Niels Erik Nørlund. She took an interest in his field, and she began studying it on her own. She was chosen as a delegate for Denmark to attend the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics in 1927—a role she filled another eight times over the next forty years.{{Sfn|Bolt|1997|p=290}} By 1928, Lehmann obtained a magister scientiarum in seismology, and she was appointed head of the Geodætisk Institut's seismological department the same year. In this position, she was responsible for overseeing the operation of three seismographic observatories, two of which were in Greenland.{{Sfn|Bolt|1997|p=288}} She personally operated the one in Copenhagen, producing reports based on its readings. Though it was not part of her job, Lehmann also engaged in research at the facility.{{Sfn|Bolt|1997|p=289}}

In 1929, Lehmann studied the Murchison earthquake which struck on the South Island of New Zealand. She analyzed the seismic data from the earthquake and noticed that there were waves of significant amplitude recorded in the Russian cities of Sverdlovsk and Irkutsk, both unexpected locations. Lehmann noticed after reviewing the data from the earthquakes that there were waves emanating from the earthquakes, which were called seismic waves. They were unexpected locations due to the theory that S-waves and some P-waves are deflected by the core creating a shadow area in which waves are not able to pass through. The waves seemed to pass through that area to reach Russia. This led to her discovering that there is a spherical core of solid material at the Earth's centre.

File:Slice earth.svg. {{olist |item_style=margin-bottom:0 |{{legend|#dd8714|continental crust}} |{{legend|#b8d2fe|oceanic crust}} |{{legend|#81ff7a|upper mantle}} |{{legend|#2dcf20|lower mantle}} |{{legend|#f4a828|outer core}} |{{legend|#f72b2e|inner core — discovered by Lehmann}}}}{{olist |item_style=margin-bottom:0| list-style-type=upper-alpha |Mohorovičić discontinuity |core–mantle boundary |outer core–inner core boundary}}]]

Lehmann was the first to interpret P-wave arrivals as reflections from an inner core. Lehmann observed seismic waves from earthquakes, leading her to hypothesize that the Earth's core consisted of two parts: "a solid metal core surrounded by an outer liquid core, overturning the accepted theory of an entirely liquid core". She published these findings in a paper titled {{prime|P}} (1936),Lehmann, I. (1936): P', Publications du Bureau Central Seismologique International, Série A, Travaux Scientifique, 14, 87–115.{{Cite journal |last=Kölbl-Ebert |first=Martina |date=2001-12-01 |title=Inge Lehmann's paper: " P'"(1936) |journal=Episodes Journal of International Geoscience |language=en |volume=24 |issue=4 |pages=262–267 |doi=10.18814/epiiugs/2001/v24i4/007 |doi-access=free}} Prior to 1936, scientists believed that the Earth's core was a single, massive molten sphere. However, many global observations did not analytically add up until Lehmann reached the heart of the issue.{{Cite web |last=Zeldovich |first=Lina |date=2019-03-26 |title=The Woman Who Found the Earth's Inner Core |url=https://daily.jstor.org/the-woman-who-found-the-earths-inner-core/ |access-date=2024-11-20 |website=JSTOR Daily |language=en-US}} The theory she developed was that the Earth consisted of 3 shells: the mantle, outer core and inner core. Lehmann inferred that the core wasn't homogeneous; rather, there is a smaller core that exists that is surrounded by the outer core. She deduced that waves travel faster in the smaller core, but the waves can be reflected off if it arrived tangentially. Her theory allows for another wave deflection at the extra boundary and this accounts for the direction and location in which the waves emerge.{{Cite journal |last=Rousseau |first=Christiane |date=November 2013 |title=How Inge Lehmann Discovered the Inner Core of the Earth |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.4169/college.math.j.44.5.399 |access-date=11 December 2023 |journal=The College Mathematics Journal|volume=44 |issue=5 |pages=399–408 |doi=10.4169/college.math.j.44.5.399 |jstor=10.4169/college.math.j.44.5.399 }} Other leading seismologists of the time, such as Beno Gutenberg, Charles Richter, and Harold Jeffreys, adopted this interpretation within two or three years, but it took until 1971 for the interpretation to be shown correct by computer calculations. She continued her work during World War II, though international collaboration was limited.

When American geologist Maurice Ewing visited her station in 1951, he invited Lehmann to work at the Lamont Geological Observatory, now called the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory, that he ran at Columbia University. She was invited there to study the seismic wave 'Lg', which was a new seismic wave being researched by Maurice Ewing and Professor Frank Press. She studied there for a few months in 1952, after her retirement from the Royal Geodetic Institute.{{Cite web |title=Bruce Bolt on Inge Lehmann |url=http://cwp.library.ucla.edu/articles/bolt.html |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=cwp.library.ucla.edu}}{{Sfn|Bolt|1997|p=290}}

She retired from her position as head of the Geodætisk Institut's seismological department in 1953, giving her more time to conduct research over the following decades. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Lehmann traveled to North America several times and visited different seismological observatories throughout the United States and Canada. She became a prominent member of the community at the University of California, Berkeley, one of her most frequent stops.{{Sfn|Bolt|1997|p=291}} During the 1960s, Lehmann was able to explore more of the Earth using new technologies made specifically for detecting nuclear bombs during the Cold War.

While in the United States, Lehmann collaborated with Maurice Ewing and Frank Press on investigations of the Earth's crust and upper mantle. During this work, she discovered another seismic discontinuity, which is a step-change increase in the speed of seismic waves at depths between 190 and 250 km. This discontinuity was named the Lehmann discontinuity after her. Francis Birch noted that the "Lehmann discontinuity was discovered through exacting scrutiny of seismic records by a master of a black art for which no amount of computerization is likely to be a complete substitute."{{cite web |last=Dahlmann |first=Jan |date=23 January 2005 |title=Inge Lehmann og Jordens kerne |trans-title=Inge Lehmann and the core of the Earth |url=http://ing.dk/artikel/inge-lehmann-og-jordens-kerne-78611 |access-date=14 May 2015 |website=Ingeniøren |language=da}}

Lehmann was also involved in the creation of the International Seismological Centre from 1961 to 1967.{{Sfn|Bolt|1997|p=291}}

Lehmann's discoveries continue to play a vital role in geophysics. Her groundbreaking work provided the basis for modern seismic imaging techniques, which have become essential for exploring Earth's interior and monitoring nuclear tests. The seismic discontinuities she identified, including the Lehmann discontinuity, have been key to advancing our understanding of Earth's thermal history.{{Cite news |title=Inge Lehmann: Discoverer of the Earth's Inner Core |work=American Museum of Natural History |url=https://www.amnh.org/learn-teach/curriculum-collections/earth-inside-and-out/inge-lehmann-discoverer-of-the-earth-s-inner-core}} Decades after she died her contributions remained a cornerstone of geophysical research.{{Cite web |last=Zeldovich |first=Lina |date=2019-03-26 |title=The Woman Who Found the Earth's Inner Core |url=https://daily.jstor.org/the-woman-who-found-the-earths-inner-core/ |access-date=2024-11-22 |website=JSTOR Daily |language=en-US}}

Lehmann received many honours for her scientific achievements, among them are

• the Harry Oscar Wood Award in 1960,
• the Emil Wiechert Medal in 1964,
• the Gold Medal of the Danish Royal Society of Science and Letters 1965,
• the Tagea Brandt Rejselegat in 1938 and 1967,
• her election as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1969,
• the William Bowie Medal in 1971, which she was the first woman to ever win the award, and
• the Medal of the Seismological Society of America in 1977.
• honorary doctorates from Columbia University in 1964 and from the University of Copenhagen in 1968, as well as numerous honorific memberships.{{Sfn|Bolt|1997|pp=298–299}}

Lehmann was also elected to the fellowship of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1936, and later became an Associate of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1957.{{Cite journal |title=1994QJRAS..35..231W Page 233 |url=https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/1994QJRAS..35..231W/0000233.000.html |access-date=2024-11-21 |journal=Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society|bibcode=1994QJRAS..35..231W |last1=Williams |first1=C. A. |last2=Hudson |first2=J. A. |last3=Jeffreys |first3=B. S. |date=1994 |volume=35 |issue=2 |page=231 }}

Because of her contribution to geological science, in 1996, the American Geophysical Union established the annual Inge Lehmann Medal to honour "outstanding contributions to the understanding of the structure, composition, and dynamics of the Earth's mantle and core."{{Sfn|Bolt|1997|p=298}} The medal has been given out annually ever since, and includes a portrait of Lehmann on the front.{{Cite web |title=Inge Lehmann |url=https://www.lindahall.org/about/news/scientist-of-the-day/inge-lehmann/ |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=The Linda Hall Library |language=en-US}}

The asteroid 5632 Ingelehmann was named in Lehmann's honour. In 2015, a species of beetle was named after her on the hundredth anniversary of women's suffrage in Denmark:Globicornis (Hadrotoma) ingelehmannae.{{Cite web|url=http://amber-inclusions.dk/ingelehmannae|title=A New Species of Globicornis (Hadrotoma) (Coleoptera, Dermestidae, Megatominae) From Baltic Amber|website=amber-inclusions.dk|access-date=2 July 2017|archive-date=3 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160203100719/http://amber-inclusions.dk/ingelehmannae|url-status=dead}} In the same year, on the 127th anniversary of her birth, Google dedicated its worldwide Google Doodle to Lehmann.{{cite magazine|author=Kevin McSpadden|title=New Google Doodle Honors Pioneering Seismologist Inge Lehmann|url=https://time.com/3856721/inge-lehmann-google-doodle-seismology-scientist-civil-rights/|magazine=Time|date=13 May 2015|access-date=13 May 2015}}{{cite web|url=https://doodles.google/doodle/inge-lehmanns-127th-birthday/|title=Inge Lehmann's 127th Birthday}}

A memorial dedicated to Lehmann was installed on Frue Plads in Copenhagen on 15 May 2017, designed by Danish artist, Elisabeth Toubro.{{cite web|url=http://politiken.dk/kultur/kunst/art6026616/Skulptur-p%C3%A5-Frue-Plads-i-K%C3%B8benhavn-er-et-minidrys-feministisk-retf%C3%A6rdighed|title=Skulptur på Frue Plads i København er et minidrys feministisk retfærdighed|language=da|work=Politiken|date=8 July 2017 |access-date=8 July 2017}} The monument consists of a 8.8 m tall black diabase and patinated bronze. It is one of six portrait busts stood in front of the University of Copenhagen.{{Cite web |title=The woman who discovered Earth's solid inner core {{!}} Ny Carlsbergfondet |url=https://www.ny-carlsbergfondet.dk/en/woman-who-discovered-earths-solid-inner-core |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=www.ny-carlsbergfondet.dk}}

She will appear on a 2028 Danish krone banknote.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalbanken.dk/en/the-future-of-cash/new-danish-banknotes/what-will-denmarks-new-banknotes-look-like|title=What will Denmark's new banknotes look like?|publisher=Danmarks Nationalbank|access-date=9 September 2024}}

• {{cite journal |last= Lehmann |first= Inge |year= 1936 |title=P' |journal= Publications du Bureau Central Séismologique International |volume= A14 |number=3 |pages= 87–115|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31822009591314&seq=431}}

• Richard Dixon Oldham
• List of geophysicists
• Timeline of women in science

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite journal |last=Bolt |first=Bruce A. |year=1997 |title=Inge Lehmann. 13 May 1888-21 February 1993 |url=http://www.physics.ucla.edu/~cwp/articles/bolt.html |journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society |volume=43 |pages=287–301 |doi=10.1098/rsbm.1997.0016 |issn=0080-4606 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010104044100/http://www.physics.ucla.edu/~cwp/articles/bolt.html |archive-date=4 January 2001 |jstor=770337}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{cite journal|last1=Hjortenberg|first1=Erik|title=Inge Lehmann's work materials and seismological epistolary archive|journal=Annals of Geophysics|date=December 2009|volume=52|issue=6|pages=679–698|url=http://www.annalsofgeophysics.eu/index.php/annals/article/viewFile/4625/4693|access-date=2 October 2017}}
• {{cite web|last1=Jacobsen|first1=A. Lif Lund|title=Inge Lehmann and the rise of international seismology 1925_1970|url=http://www.carlsbergfondet.dk/en/Research-Activities/Research-Projects/Postdoctoral-Fellowships/A-Lif-Lund-Jacobsen_Inge-Lehmann-and-the-rise-of-international-seismology-1925_1970|publisher=Carlsberg Foundation|access-date=2 October 2017|archive-date=4 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180104233505/http://www.carlsbergfondet.dk/en/Research-Activities/Research-Projects/Postdoctoral-Fellowships/A-Lif-Lund-Jacobsen_Inge-Lehmann-and-the-rise-of-international-seismology-1925_1970|url-status=dead}}
• {{cite book|last1=Kousholt |first1=Bjarne|title=Inge Lehmann og Jordens kerne |language=da |date=2004|publisher=Polyteknisk|isbn=9788750209577}}
• {{cite journal |title=Seismology in the Days of Old |journal=EOS |volume=68 |number=3 |pages=33–35 |first=Inge |last=Lehmann |year=1987 |doi=10.1029/EO068i003p00033-02 |bibcode=1987EOSTr..68...33L |url=http://www.geus.dk/departments/geophysics/seismology/seismo_lehmann_art-dk.htm |access-date=16 May 2008 |archive-date=19 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130919195454/http://www.geus.dk/departments/geophysics/seismology/seismo_lehmann_art-dk.htm |url-status=dead }}
• {{cite journal |title=Inge Lehmann: Reminiscences |first1=Bertha |last1=Swirles, Lady Jeffreys |journal=Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society |volume=35 |number=2 |page=233 |year=1994 |url=https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/1994QJRAS..35..231W/0000233.000.html }}
• {{Cite book|last=Swaby |first=Rachel |year=2015 |chapter=Inge Lehmann (1888-1993) |title=Headstrong: 52 women who changed science – and the world |location=New York |publisher=Broadway Books |pages=161–164 |isbn=978-0-553-44679-1 }}
• {{cite journal |title=Inge Lehmann (13 May 1888 - 1993). [obituary] |first1=C. A. |last1=Williams |journal=Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society |volume=35 |number=2 |page=231 |year=1994 |url=https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/seri/QJRAS/0035/0000231.000.html }}

{{Refend}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20150319153730/http://cwp.library.ucla.edu/Phase2/Lehmann,_Inge@81234567.html Inge Lehmann] at CWP at UCLA
• [https://archive.today/20121223171252/http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=show.tcl&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqPos=0&dsqSearch=(PersonCode==%27NA5258%27) Royal Society citation]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20170811193219/http://www.amnh.org/explore/resource-collections/earth-inside-and-out/inge-lehmann-discoverer-of-the-earth-s-inner-core Inge Lehmann: Discoverer of Earth's Inner Core]
• {{cite web|title=WiP: Herstory: Spotlight Scientist: Inge Lehmann|url=http://www.physics.purdue.edu/wip/herstory/lehmann.html|publisher=Purdue University|access-date=15 October 2013|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160326062117/http://www.physics.purdue.edu/wip/herstory/lehmann.html|archive-date=26 March 2016}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lehmann, Inge}}

Category:Danish geophysicists

Category:Seismologists

Category:1888 births

Category:1993 deaths

Category:Danish women geologists

Category:Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge

Category:Foreign members of the Royal Society

Category:University of Copenhagen alumni

Category:Danish women centenarians

Category:20th-century Danish physicists

Category:Women geophysicists

Category:Scientists from Copenhagen

Category:20th-century Danish women scientists

Category:University of Hamburg alumni