Overlooked No More: Inge Lehmann, Who Discovered the Earth's Inner Core
Key topics
The discovery of the Earth's inner core by Inge Lehmann is sparking a lively discussion, with commenters weighing in on her legacy and the significance of her work. While some, like perigrin, hail her as a foundational figure in modern geology, others, such as tekla, point out that she was actually recognized with many honors during her lifetime, contradicting the "overlooked" narrative. A debate is also brewing over the article's claim that the Earth's magnetic field protects the planet from cosmic radiation, with some, like pfdietz and nephihaha, offering nuanced corrections and others, like Qem, defending the importance of the magnetic field in preserving the atmosphere. As the conversation unfolds, it becomes clear that Lehmann's pioneering work continues to inspire both admiration and critical discussion.
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- 01Story posted
Dec 22, 2025 at 5:44 PM EST
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Dec 26, 2025 at 8:28 AM EST
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Dec 27, 2025 at 11:21 PM EST
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[1] https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/99...
Inge Lehmann (* 13. Mai 1888 in Kopenhagen; † 21. Februar 1993 ebenda)
That's 105 years!
> This article is part of Overlooked, a series of obituaries about remarkable people whose deaths, beginning in 1851, went unreported in The Times.
Our protection from cosmic radiation is mostly due to Earth's thick atmosphere, not its magnetic field.
https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/14915/does-...
Primary defense against cosmic radiation: magnetic field
Secondary defense: atmosphere
https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/earth-science/eart...
Radiation at ISS: 144 mSv per year
Radiation on a trip to Mars: ~340 mSv per year
Cosmic radiation at sea level: about 0.4 mSv per year
The atmosphere is doing the heavy lifting in shielding us from cosmic radiation, not the magnetosphere.
> Radiation on a trip to Mars: ~340 mSv per year
This seems to track with research that during a geomagnetic excursion[1], where the field strength dropped to about 10%, the cosmic radiation seems to have roughly doubled[2].
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_excursion
[2]: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1041098
Assuming you're right, why do you suppose so many publications get it wrong?
Not only the NASA one I linked to but also Wikipedia for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_ray
Or the European Space Agency: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Cluste...
You will forgive me if I take their assessment more seriously than yours, but I'm open to correcting my understanding.
I don’t know that that is a good reason to cause you to you think they’re lying.
NASA also extensively investigates Earth's atmosphere.
They use missions like Aura, CALIPSO, and upcoming ones like AOS and INCUS to monitor ozone, clouds, aerosols, and storms, providing crucial data for forecasts and climate science.