Intellectually gifted but inherently fragile - Society's view of female scientists as experienced by seismologist Inge Lehmann up to 1930

Abstract

Celebrated for her 1936 discovery of the Earth's inner core, seismologist Inge Lehmann (1888-1993) is often portrayed as a trailblazing female scientist with an impressive international career. She is the inspiration behind Denmark's funding program designed to strengthen gender equality in scientific research. Yet, newly discovered documents show that Lehmann's path to a career in science was not at all straightforward. In a society where women were considered mentally and physically unsuited to academic studies, let alone scientific careers, gender bias and discrimination thwarted her ambitions and limited her early career options. Lehmann's letters to Niels Bohr document the disappointment and frustration with restrictions on women at Cambridge University that prompted her to return to Denmark. Her mental breakdown in the winter of 1912 likely resulted from academic overcompensation in attempts to overcome gender bias. After obtaining a Danish degree in mathematics, she became an underpaid clerical employee at the university. Only by pragmatically changing her field from prestigious mathematics to little-known seismology could she establish herself as a successful scientist.