Science and the Center of the Earth

11/02/22 • 17 min

In this episode, Odd Salon Fellow and resident geologist Miles Traer tells a story of extraordinary persistence and scientific dedication and groundbreaking research into the composition of our very planet.

Before the turn of the 20th century, Earth’s interior belonged to the poets. Questions of how planets form, how they evolve, and even where life came from remained out of touch for scientific researchers. Then came a group of geologists using homemade machines to probe Earth’s interior to determine what’s down there... and they were still wrong. Inge Lehmann, a woman of 40, working by herself and storing her notes in used oatmeal boxes, entered the field quietly in the 1920s. With unassuming precision she slowly set to work rethinking what we know, working tirelessly to combat misogyny common in mathematics and science, and eventually discovered the truth, changing the world.

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11/02/22 • 17 min

The Odd Salon Podcast - Science and the Center of the Earth

Transcript

Inge Lehmann sat alone in a refurbished concrete bunker on the western flank of Copenhagen Denmark, staring at her fantastic machines. The smell of wet wool and damp earth trod in on the souls of her boots permeated the still air, and seemed to pool atop the arched ceiling. She was waiting for a catastrophe on the other side of the world.

Lehmann was a geologist. She studied earthquakes and the study of geology and earthquakes depended on human tragedy. The first indication that the cata

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