So I learned something new today!
I learned about an inspiring woman who earned herself a Google Doodle!
Inge Lehmann.
This woman was known for her discovery of the earth's inner core! She felt that there had to be something more in the earth than just dirt and bones. So she did lots of research about why the P-Waves from earthquakes slowed down in certain parts inside the earth. And then it came to her, there was something more down there.
Before Lehmann's discovery, scientists (geophysicists) believed that the earth was made up of a liquid inner core surrounded by a solid mantle that was surrounded by a crust, and they were each separated by something they called discontinuities (abrupt density changes in the earth).
Then came a big earthquake near New Zealand in 1929. Inge Lehmann, who was known as the only Danish seismologist (that's what they call the scientists that study seismic waves in earthquakes and stuff), that studied the waves of the earthquake. She couldn't understand what she saw, because the waves seemed to be going down into the earth and bouncing off of some kind of wall or boundary. And coming back up to the earth. If the earth's center was like the other scientists had said it was, then the waves would've gone through the inner core.
That's when she theorized in 1936 that the earth's center was made of two parts. A solid inner core surrounded by a liquid outer core and they were separated by what is now called the Lehmann Discontinuity.
Lehmann's hypothesis was confirmed in 1970 (34 years later!) when they made more sensitive seismographs (the things that picked up shock waves off of earthquakes and things). The more sensitive seismographs picked up that the waves were deflecting off of the solid core.
Lehmann not only started her idea, but she finished it and proved it to be right. She has an asteroid named after her too!! Asteroid 5632 Ingelehmann was what they called it.
Inge Lehmann lived to be 104 years old! She lived a long life. She died in February of 1993 (my birth year).
Inge definitely left a mark in this earth (pun intended). She set an example for women (and men too, of course, but mostly women) everywhere! Not only did she discover some valuable information about how our earth is formed, but she didn't give up on her ideas and goals. Even when it took more than thirty years for them to accept her ideas.
She did what she loved to do and then made a change in this world. If it wasn't for her, we wouldn't know how our earth looks. And it is important to know how the earth is formed and how the earth works, because the earth is where we live.
Not only did she make a change, but she lived a long fulfilling life after accomplishing all that she did as an individual. That is definitely what I wish on everyone I know: to live a long fulfilling life.
Just think... If all of us were to never give up on our goals and ideas (even after the first week of having them), we would achieve so much individually and personally. Then we would achieve so much as a whole. Especially if the intentions of our ideas are to make this world a better place!
So I'm challenging you, as an individual, to come up with an idea of how you could use what you love to do to make a change in this world. And don't ever give up on it!
Feel free to share your ideas with me on here! I'd love to hear about them and maybe I could help!
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