Johann Karl Ludwig Martin (24 November 1851,
Jever (
Ostfriesland
East Frisia or East Friesland (german: Ostfriesland; ; stq, Aastfräislound) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia ...
) – 14 November 1942,
Leiden) was a German
geologist. He was professor in geology at
Leiden University
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...
from 1877 to 1922. From 1880 to 1922 he also was director of the Geological Museum of
Leiden. As a scientist he is known for his
paleontological and
stratigraphical
Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks.
Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithostrati ...
research on the
Cenozoic
The Cenozoic ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the current configura ...
fauna of the
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
, especially on
mollusks.
Karl Martin was student at
Göttingen, where he became PhD in 1874. He then worked as a teacher at
Wismar, where he studied the glacial deposits of Northern Europe. He visited the Museum of Natural History at Leiden to see the collection of
Winand Staring, thus meeting the
zoologist Hermann Schlegel, the director of the museum. When a
chair
A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. They may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...
in geology was created at Leiden University in 1877, Schlegel remembered Martin as a good candidate.
As a professor at Leiden, Martins' research was on the collections of the (in 1880 newly created) Geological Museum, especially on fossils from the Dutch colonies. As director of the museum, he enlarged the collections by new purchases and participating in expeditions to the Dutch colonies: in 1884 to the
Dutch Antilles, in 1892 to the
Moluccas and in 1910 to
Java. After his retirement in 1922 Martin continued his research on the
Tertiary stratigraphy of the Dutch East Indies. His successor at Leiden University was
B.G. Escher. Among his students were
G.A.F. Molengraaff,
J.H.F. Umbgrove,
L.U. de Sitter and
Ph.H. Kuenen.
Martin is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of gecko, ''
Phyllodactylus martini
The Dutch leaf-toed gecko (''Phyllodactylus martini'') is a species of lizard in the family Phyllodactylidae. The species is endemic to the Caribbean.
Etymology
The specific name, ''martini'', is in honor of German geologist Johann Karl Ludwig ...
''.
[Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Martin, J. K. L.", p. 170).]
References
Sources
*Leidsche Geologische Mededeelingen deel V, 1931, titled ''Feestbundel uitgegeven ter eere van prof. dr. K. Martin''
*G.E. de Groot, 1978: Rijksmuseum van Geologie en Mineralogie 1878-1978,
Scripta Geologica, Vol. 48 p. 3-2
PDF*Hoek Oostende L.W. van den, J. Leloux, F.P. Wesselingh, C.F. Winkler Prins (2002) ''Cenozoic Molluscan types from Java (Indonesia) in the Martin Collection (Division of Cenozoic Mollusca), National Museum of Natural History, Leiden'' NNM Technical Bulletin 5 p. 1-13
PDF*Leloux J., F.P. Wesselingh (2009)''Types of Cenozoic Mollusca from Java in the Martin Collection of Naturalis'', NNM Technical Bulletin 11 p. 1-76
PDF*A.J. Pannekoek, 1962: Geological research at the universities of The Netherlands, 1877-1962 in Geologie & Mijnbouw, vol. 41 no. 4 p. 161-174
*C.F. Winkler Prins, 2004, Geological collections of the Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum (Leiden, The Netherlands): cultural heritage of the geosciences and mining,
Scripta Geologica Special Issue 4, p. 293-30
PDF
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Karl
1851 births
1942 deaths
People from Jever
20th-century German geologists
University of Göttingen alumni
Academic staff of Leiden University
Academic staff of Hochschule Wismar
19th-century German geologists