Archer John Porter Martin (1 March 1910 – 28 July 2002) was a British chemist who shared the 1952

Nobel Prize in Chemistry ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...

for the invention of partition

chromatography In chemical analysis, chromatography is a laboratory technique for the separation of a mixture into its components. The mixture is dissolved in a fluid solvent (gas or liquid) called the ''mobile phase'', which carries it through a system ( ...

with

Richard Synge Richard Laurence Millington Synge FRS FRSE FRIC FRSC MRIA (Liverpool, 28 October 1914 – Norwich, 18 August 1994) was a British biochemist, and shared the 1952 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the invention of partition chromatography with Arch ...

Early life

Martin's father was a GP. Martin was educated at Bedford School, and

Peterhouse, Cambridge Peterhouse is the oldest constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Today, Peterhouse has 254 undergraduates, 116 full-time graduate students and 54 fellows. It is quite ...

Career

Working first in the

Physical Chemistry Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical mecha ...

Laboratory, he moved to the

Dunn Nutritional Laboratory The MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit (formerly the MRC Dunn Human Nutrition Unit) is a department of the School of Clinical Medicine at the University of Cambridge, funded through a strategic partnership between the Medical Research Council and th ...

, and in 1938 moved to Wool Industries Research Institution in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

. He was head of the

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

division of Boots Pure Drug Company from 1946 to 1948, when he joined the Medical Research Council. There, he was appointed head of the physical chemistry division of the

National Institute for Medical Research The National Institute for Medical Research (commonly abbreviated to NIMR), was a medical research institute based in Mill Hill, on the outskirts of north London, England. It was funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC); In 2016, the NIMR b ...

in 1952, and was chemical consultant from 1956 to 1959. He specialised in biochemistry, in some aspects of

vitamin A vitamin is an organic molecule (or a set of molecules closely related chemically, i.e. vitamers) that is an essential micronutrient that an organism needs in small quantities for the proper functioning of its metabolism. Essential nutrie ...

s E and B₂, and in techniques that laid the foundation for several new types of

. He developed

partition chromatography Partition chromatography theory and practice was introduced through the work and publications of Archer Martin and Richard Laurence Millington Synge during the 1940s. They would later receive the 1952 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for their invention ...

whilst working on the separation of

amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although hundreds of amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the alpha-amino acids, which comprise proteins. Only 22 alpha am ...

s, and later developed

gas-liquid chromatography Gas chromatography (GC) is a common type of chromatography used in analytical chemistry for separating and analyzing compounds that can be vaporized without decomposition. Typical uses of GC include testing the purity of a particular substance, ...

. Amongst many honours, he received his Nobel Prize in 1952. After his retirement from the University of Sussex, he was visiting professor at both the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

in Texas and the EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) in Switzerland. He published far fewer papers than the typical Nobel winners—only 70 in all—but his ninth paper contained the work that would eventually win him the Nobel Prize. The

dropped him from its chemistry faculty in 1979 (when he was 69 years old) because he was not publishing enough.

Awards

Archer Martin shared the 1952

for the invention of partition

with

. Archer Martin's 1954 paper with A. T. James, "Gas-Liquid Chromatography: A Technique for the Analysis and Identification of Volatile Materials” reported the discovery of

. This publication was honoured by a Citation for Chemical Breakthrough Award from the Division of History of Chemistry of the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all d ...

presented in 2016 to the Francis Crick Institute. The research was actually performed at the

Mill Hill Mill Hill is a suburb in the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is situated around northwest of Charing Cross. Mill Hill was in the historic county of Middlesex until 1965, when it became part of Greater London. Its population counted 18, ...

, which became the Francis Crick Institute in 2015. Martin was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1950, and made a CBE in 1960.

Personal life

In 1943 he married Judith Bagenal (1918–2006), and together they had two sons and three daughters. In the last years of his life he suffered from

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

References

External links

* * * Martin's Nobel lecture
The Development of Partition ChromatographyM Martin's Column's: Classic Kit
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Archer John Porter 1910 births 2002 deaths Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge English biochemists Scientists from London Nobel laureates in Chemistry British Nobel laureates People educated at Bedford School Fellows of the Royal Society English Nobel laureates English physical chemists National Institute for Medical Research faculty Commanders of the Order of the British Empire