Inge Lehmann

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Inge Lehmann (born May 13, 1888 in Copenhagen ; † February 21, 1993 there ) was a Danish geodesist and seismologist . She died at the age of 105.

Life

Inge Lehmann was born as the daughter of the experimental psychologist Alfred Lehmann in the Copenhagen district of Østerbro , where she grew up. Her family was a long-established Copenhagen family, which also included the lawyer and politician Orla Lehmann .

She received her education at an educationally progressive school, which was run by Hanna Adler, an aunt of Niels Bohr . According to her own admission, her father and Adler had a decisive influence on her career. After graduating from school, she studied mathematics at the Universities of Copenhagen and Cambridge, with a few interruptions due to illness, and after several years working in the insurance sector, in 1925 she became assistant to geodesist Niels Erik Nørlund , who commissioned her to set up seismological observatories in Denmark and Greenland. During this time her interest in seismology began. In 1928 she took her exams in geodesy and took up a position as state geodetician and head of the seismological department at the geodetic institute.

In an article from 1936 with the simple title P ' she first interpreted P-wave inserts in seismograms , which mysteriously lie in the P-wave shadow of the earth's core , as reflections on an inner earth core. This interpretation was adopted by other leading seismologists such as Beno Gutenberg , Charles Richter and Harold Jeffreys in the two to three years that followed . The Second World War and the occupation of Denmark by the German Wehrmacht severely restricted Lehmann's work and international contacts.

In the last few years up to her retirement in 1953, the climate between her and other members of the Geodetic Institute deteriorated. After 1953 Inge Lehmann moved to the USA for several years and worked with Maurice Ewing and Frank Press on the study of the earth's crust and upper mantle . In doing so, she discovered another seismic discontinuity, which is located at an average depth of 190 to 250 km and is commonly known as the " Lehmann discontinuity " after its discoverer .

Awards

Inge Lehmann is one of the most important seismologists internationally. She has received numerous honors and awards for her achievements, including a. the Harry Oscar Wood Award (1960), the Emil Wiechert Medal (1964), the gold medal of the Royal Danish Academy of Science and Writing (1965), the Tagea Brandt Award (1938 and 1967), the election as a foreign member of the Royal Society (1969) and Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1959), the William Bowie Medal (1971) and the Medal of the Seismological Society of America (1977), and honorary doctorates from Columbia University , New York, ( Sc.D. hc, 1964) and the University of Copenhagen (Dr. phil.hc, 1968) and numerous honorary memberships.

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) has been awarding the Inge Lehmann Medal named after Lehmann since 1997 .

The asteroid (5632) Ingelehmann was also named in honor of the scientist .

On May 13, 2015, she was honored with a worldwide Google Doodle .

Fonts

  • Inge Lehmann: P ' . In: Publications du Bureau Central Séismologique International . A14, no. 3 , 1936, pp. 87-115 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Entry on Lehmann, Inge (1888-1993) in the archive of the Royal Society , London
  2. ^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. (PDF file) Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed December 31, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Google Doodle, May 13, 2015 . Retrieved May 13, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Lehmann, Inge
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish geodesist and seismologist
DATE OF BIRTH May 13, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Copenhagen
DATE OF DEATH February 21, 1993
Place of death Copenhagen