Editing Inge Lehmann (section)

==Early life and education==
Inge Lehmann was born on 13 May 1888 and grew up in [[Østerbro]], a part of [[Copenhagen]], Denmark.<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref name="proquest" />

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.<ref name="proquest">{{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}} }}</ref> 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.<ref name="proquest" />

This school was led by [[Hanna Adler]], [[Niels Bohr]]'s aunt, a pioneering woman scholar and firm believer in gender equality.<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref name="CWP">{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref name="proquest" /> 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 [[Candidatus magisterii|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 [[Johan Frederik Steffensen|J.F. Steffensen]], the professor of actuarial science.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

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.<ref name="proquest" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Inge Lehmann |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/people/science-and-technology/geology-and-oceanography-biographies/inge-lehmann }}</ref><ref>{{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/}}</ref>

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."<ref name="amnh" />