Friderich Martens (1635 - 1699)
, Tjärnö Marine Biological Laboratory, Göteborg University
International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) was a German

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and naturalist who conducted the first scientific observations of the nature, animal life and climate of

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...

.
Government of Norway, document archives He published his notes in the book "''Spitzbergische oder Groenlandische Reise-Beschreibung, gethan im Jahre 1671''" and this book became a

reference work A reference work is a work, such as a paper, book or periodical (or their electronic equivalents), to which one can refer for information. The information is intended to be found quickly when needed. Such works are usually ''referred'' to f ...

for many decades.

Biography

There is very little documentation on Martens' life. He was born in 1635 and worked as a

feldsher According to the World Health Organization, a feldsher (german: Feldscher, pl, Felczer, cs, Felčar, russian: фельдшер, sv, Fältskär, Finnish: ''Välskäri'') is a health care professional who provides various medical services limit ...

and physician in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. In 1671 Martens joined a voyage on a

whaler A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Japa ...

through the

Norwegian Sea The Norwegian Sea ( no, Norskehavet; is, Noregshaf; fo, Norskahavið) is a marginal sea, grouped with either the Atlantic Ocean or the Arctic Ocean, northwest of Norway between the North Sea and the Greenland Sea, adjoining the Barents Sea to ...

Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norw ...

. The ''Jonas im Walfisch'', under captain Pieter Pieterszoon van Friesland, left Hamburg on 15 April 1671 heading north. The vessel left Spitsbergen on 22 July again reaching the

Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Repu ...

on 21 August the same year. Martens made detailed notes of his observations and compiled these in his book "''Spitzbergische oder Groenlandische Reise-Beschreibung, gethan im Jahre 1671''" which was published in 1675
Cronologia Ornitologica by Gottfried Schulzen in Hamburg. The book contains observations of the ocean and weather and descriptions of a number of

arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...

plants, birds and animals complete with many drawings. There are also the first notes on the

ivory gull The ivory gull (''Pagophila eburnea'') is a small gull, the only species in the genus ''Pagophila''. It breeds in the high Arctic and has a circumpolar distribution through Greenland, northernmost North America, and Eurasia. Taxonomy The ivory ...

, Ardea, Official journal of the Netherlands Ornithologists' Union prior to the thorough description by Constantine Phipps and the

Brünnich's guillemot The thick-billed murre or Brünnich's guillemot (''Uria lomvia'') is a bird in the auk family (Alcidae). This bird is named after the Danish zoologist Morten Thrane Brünnich. The very deeply black North Pacific subspecies ''Uria lomvia arra'' i ...

prior to the thorough description by Morten Brünnich
Fauna och flora (1923) Projekt Runeberg (Swedish) Martens' book was later translated into several languages and was published in Italian language, Italian (1680),

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

(1685),

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

(1694; as a section of a book) and

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

(1715; as an article). Martens died in 1699 at the age of sixty-four.

Legacy

The book remained a reference work for many years and was quoted among others by Constantine Phipps 1774 in "''A Voyage towards the North Pole undertaken … 1773''",

Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (also called Bernardin de St. Pierre) (19 January 1737, in Le Havre – 21 January 1814, in Éragny, Val-d'Oise) was a French writer and botanist. He is best known for his 1788 novel ''Paul et Virginie'', n ...

1796 in "''Études de la nature''" and

Bernard Germain de Lacépède Bernard-Germain-Étienne de La Ville-sur-Illon, comte de Lacépède or La Cépède (; 26 December 17566 October 1825) was a French naturalist and an active freemason. He is known for his contribution to the Comte de Buffon's great work, the ...

1804 in "''Histoire naturelle des cétacés''". In 1861 Swedish explorer ''

Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld (18 November 183212 August 1901) was a Finland-Swedish aristocrat, geologist, mineralogist and Arctic explorer. He was a member of the Fenno-Swedish Nordenskiöld family of scientists and held the title of a friher ...

'' named

Martensøya Martensøya (anglicized as Martens Island) is the easternmost island of Sjuøyane, which lies north of Nordaustlandet, part of the Svalbard archipelago in Arctic Norway. The island is named after the German physician Friderich Martens, who visite ...

, an island among the

Sjuøyane Sjuøyane (English: ''Seven Islands'') is the northernmost part of the Svalbard archipelago north of mainland Norway, and some 20 km north of the eastern major island Nordaustlandet. The islands are the northernmost landmass reachable by normal ...

in honor of Friderich Martens , Norwegian Polar Institute, geographical names The

National Library of Finland The National Library of Finland ( fi, Kansalliskirjasto, sv, Nationalbiblioteket) is the foremost research library in Finland. Administratively the library is part of the University of Helsinki. From 1919 to 1 August 2006, it was known as the ...

at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

keeps an original copy of a Dutch edition printed in 1710, of which a digital copy is available.
National Library of Finland, University of Helsinki In 2002 a reprint was released in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

.
New edition In 2007 El Museo del Fin del Mundo (Usuahia, Argentina) based on a 1711 copy manuscript kept in its collection, published a Spanish translation of the book.

References

External links

Original book, digitized 2006 at Oxford University

Original book complete with illustrations
digitized by the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

.
English translation
published as part of

John Narborough Rear-Admiral Sir John Narborough (or Narbrough, c. 1640–1688) was an English naval commander. He served with distinction in the Anglo-Dutch Wars and against the pirates of the Barbary Coast. He is also known for leading a poorly understood e ...

's ''An Account of Several Late Voyages and Discoveries'', London 1711, digitized by the Internet Archive. {{DEFAULTSORT:Martens, Friderich 1635 births 1699 deaths 17th-century German physicians German explorers Explorers of the Arctic 17th-century German writers 17th-century German male writers