"Inge Lehmann is one of the most important female scientists in history, yet it's likely that interested readers have never heard of her. She was a Danish seismologist and geophysicist who made the groundbreaking discovery in 1936 that Earth has a solid inner core. This would forever change our understanding of our own planet. In an era when women researchers were not always taken seriously, Inge Lehmann displayed exceptional genius and had to forge her own path. Her personal life (all 104 years of it!) was equally captivating and shrouded in mystery until now. She lived and worked in the United States for a significant portion of her life and was awarded an honorary doctorate from Columbia University in 1964; in 1971 she became the first woman to receive the William Bowie Medal, the highest honor given by the American Geophysical Union. Surprisingly, no books about this remarkable woman have been published in the US market. It is long overdue for her extraordinary story to be told. At the heart of this first biography of Inge Lehmann is her personal correspondence, made available to author Hanna Strager through Lehmann's great-nephew. Inge Lehmann never married and didn't have any children. Her great-nephew reports that she lived alone all her life. Yet, in a dusty cardboard box filled with her letters and stowed away in the attic of his house, Strager discovered the first page of a love letter discussing plans for Inge Lehmann and the letter's writer to move in together. The unsigned letter and the detective work to identify its writer frames this portrait of Inge Lehmann and her life. In the epilogue of the biography, the writer is identified as Florence Sykes, a British woman whom Inge Lehmann had known for 25 years at the time of the writing. The story of Inge Lemann's life is a universal tale of an extraordinary woman's struggle to find her footing in life and a path to thrive intellectually and personally"--
If I Am Right, and I Know I Am provides a powerful portrait of the pioneering Danish scientist Inge Lehmann (1888–1993) while guiding readers through the fascinating history of earth science.
In the 1930s, the pioneering Danish scientist Inge Lehmann (1888–1993) made a groundbreaking discovery about the nature of Earth. Analyzing data from earthquakes, she determined that the heart of the planet is a solid inner core. Her discovery overturned the widely accepted theory of the core being fluid, but she trusted her calculations: “If I am right, and I know I am,” she wrote in a letter. A fiercely independent thinker, Lehmann forever changed our understanding of our planet.
If I Am Right, and I Know I Am provides a powerful portrait of an extraordinary woman while guiding readers through the fascinating history of earth science. Hanne Strager tells the story of Lehmann’s life and accomplishments, recounting how she battled inner demons and a mental breakdown and how she overcame pervasive prejudice to forge her own path in a male-dominated scientific world. In Lehmann’s era, women were expected to conform to rigid roles and were discouraged from pursuing serious academic careers. Even as Lehmann became a leading geophysicist, she had to navigate not only gender bias but also the isolation of being a lone woman in an overwhelmingly male field. Strager also follows the traces of an elusive love letter linking Lehmann romantically to another woman. The first biography of Lehmann, this book seamlessly weaves together her personal life and scientific achievements, highlighting her resilience and brilliance.
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