Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Thirty‐third presentation: William Bowie Medal to Inge Lehmann

1971; Wiley; Volume: 52; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1029/eo052i007p00537

2324-9250

Francis Birch, Inge Lehman,

Seismology and Earthquake Studies

Inge Lehman's career in seismology began in 1925 when she became assistant to Professor Norlund in Copenhagen. She was responsible for the establishment of a seismic network of large aperture with stations in Copenhagen, Ivigtut, and Scoresby Sound. When the Royal Danish Geodetic Institute was created in 1928, she became Chief of the Seismological Department and served in this capacity until she retired in 1952. During these years she read all the records and published the bulletins for these stations; in addition she published some twenty‐five papers on her own. Among these papers was an epoch‐making one published in 1936, which had a title that endeared her to compilers of bibliographies; it was simply called P′ . This paper added a new discontinuity to the seismic structure of the earth, the Lehmann discontinuity, which divided the core into inner and outer parts. This inner core, though small in mass, may yet provide a much‐needed reference point that will fix the elusive temperature distribution in the deep interior. Like the Mohoričic discontinuity, the boundary of crust and mantle, and the Oldham‐Gutenberg discontinuity, the boundary of the mantle and core, the Lehmann discontinuity was discovered through exacting scrutiny of seismic records by a master of a black art for which no amount of computerizing is likely to be a complete substitute.