Arctic geopolitics and the beginning of earthquake monitoring in Denmark and Greenland

Jacobsen, Arne

doi:10.34194/geusb.v38.4424

Cited by 3 publications

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“…An annual contribution from the Carlsberg Foundation made the project feasible, and for the next couple of years Inge Lehmann helped to set up the new seismological stations. In 1926 she helped establish seismic stations in Copenhagen (COP); Ivittuut (IVI), Southwest Greenland; and in 1927 at Scoresbysund/Ittoqqortoormiit (SCO), West Greenland (for the early history of seismology in Denmark, see Lehmann, 1987;Jacobsen, 2017;and Dahl-Jensen et al, 2022).…”

Section: Assistant In the Faculty Of Mathematical Sciencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Jacobsen

2022

Hist. Geo Space. Sci.

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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.

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Section: Assistant In the Faculty Of Mathematical Sciencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Jacobsen

2022

Hist. Geo Space. Sci.

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show abstract

“…An annual contribution from the Carlsberg Foundation made the project feasible, and for the next couple of years Inge Lehmann helped to set up the new seismological stations. In 1926 she helped establish seismic stations in Copenhagen (COP) and Ivittuut (IVI), Southwest Greenland, and in 1927 at Scoresbysund/ Ittoqqortoormiit (SCO), West Greenland (for the early history of seismology in Denmark, see Lehmann 1987, Jacobsen, 2017 Dahl-Jensen, Jacobsen, Sølund, Larsen and Voss (submitted)).…”

Section: Assistant In the Faculty Of Mathematical Sciencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A seismologist's beginnings: Inge Lehmann's experiences during the 1910s and '20s as a woman in science

Jacobsen¹

2021

Preprint

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Abstract. Celebrated for her 1936 discovery of the Earth’s inner core, seismologist Inge Lehmann (1888–1993) has often been portrayed as a trailblazing female scientist, unwilling to accept discrimination in her pursuit of an academic profession. Yet, a close reading of her experiences suggests that Lehmann faced severe restrictions early on in her career. Only by being pragmatic about her situation did she successfully establish herself as a professional scientist. Having attended a progressive co-educational school before studying mathematics at the University of Copenhagen, Lehmann had little direct experience of gender discrimination. After receiving her bachelor’s degree, she entered Cambridge University in 1911, along with Niels Bohr, but found herself unprepared for the gendered social segregation practiced there. Exhausted from overwork, Lehman abandoned her studies and returned to Denmark. Over the next six years, she came to understand how severely her gender limited her career options. In 1918, Inge Lehman returned to the University of Copenhagen to complete her studies, and became a teaching assistant for a professor of actuarial science in 1923. Because her chances for obtaining a scientific post at the university were slim, she joined Professor Niels Erik Nørlund in his efforts to reform the Danish Geodetic Service. In 1928, Professor Nørlund rewarded Lehmann's voluntary change of academic discipline from mathematics to seismology by appoint her as Director of the Seismology Department.

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The seismograph as a diplomatic object: The S oviet– A merican exchange of instruments, 1958–1964

2021

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Scientists from both sides of the Iron Curtain met in Geneva in 1958 and 1959 to create the technical basis for monitoring a future nuclear test ban treaty. Despite their scientific veneer, these meetings were politically motivated and the scientists tried to forward U.S. or Soviet objectives through their technical discussions. Seismographic data was a cornerstone of the proposed monitoring regime, but when the discussions became political, so too did the instruments that produced the scientific data. Thus, seismographs became diplomatic objects used to support or challenge foreign policy objectives. After the collapse of the scientific meetings, the US distributed seismographs as diplomatic gifts to create a worldwide, U.S.‐controlled nuclear‐detection network in 1960. To exploit data from the network without supporting U.S. policy objectives, the USSR in 1961 proposed to exchange U.S. seismographs for Soviet ones, as two objects of equal value. That allowed each superpower to access the other's technology without creating bonds of mutual obligations. However, this type of inverted, object‐based diplomacy also gave scientists from international scientific organisations or small, non‐nuclear nations like Denmark a way to engage in nuclear diplomacy. When Danish scientists offered to create a connection station between the U.S. and Soviet seismic networks, they did so in full agreement with the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to strengthen their policy of nuclear disarmament independently of U.S. objectives.

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Arctic geopolitics and the beginning of earthquake monitoring in Denmark and Greenland

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

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

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

A seismologist's beginnings: Inge Lehmann's experiences during the 1910s and '20s as a woman in science

The seismograph as a diplomatic object: The S oviet– A merican exchange of instruments, 1958–1964

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