Martin Klein (born April 5, 1941) is an American engineer and inventor. His work was significant in the development of side scan sonar , a tool used in maritime archaeology, deep-sea and coastal survey, marine geology, offshore engineering and military mine defense.

Life and education

Klein was born in New York City and currently lives in Andover, Massachusetts. He moved to Boston in 1958 for his education and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1962 with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. Klein’s career started at MIT when he worked on projects with Harold “Doc” Edgerton during his student life. After graduation, he joined Edgerton, Germeshausen & Grier (EG&G Inc.) in 1962 as program manager. Klein equipped the submersibles

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...

and Trieste II with the EG&G side scan sonar systems required in searching for the USS nuclear submarine Thresher that sank in 1963. During his time at EG&G, Klein also led the development of the Mark I dual channel, towed

side scan sonar Side-scan sonar (also sometimes called side scan sonar, sidescan sonar, side imaging sonar, side-imaging sonar and bottom classification sonar) is a category of sonar system that is used to efficiently create an image of large areas of the sea ...

. Klein founded Klein Associates (now Klein Marine Systems) in 1968, a company that developed commercial sonar systems. He sold the company in 1989 but continues to work in ocean technologies. He is on the Advisory Boards of MIT Sea Grant,

MIT Museum The MIT Museum, founded in 1971, is located at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It hosts collections of holography, technology-related artworks, artificial intelligence, architecture, robotics, maritime histor ...

, and the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, a fellow of the Marine Technology Society and the Explorers Club, and an active part of the MATE-ROV Program. Klein received the

Arnold O. Beckman Arnold Orville Beckman (April 10, 1900 – May 18, 2004) was an American chemist, inventor, investor, and philanthropist. While a professor at California Institute of Technology, he founded Beckman Instruments based on his 1934 invention of th ...

award in 2011 for his contributions to technological development of the side scan sonar. He received an honorary doctoral degree from the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, mo ...

for his contributions in scientific exploration such as research regarding the Loch Ness monster, helping to locate the RMS ''Titanic'' shipwreck, and pinpointing the Challenger space shuttle.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klein, Martin 1941 births Living people 21st-century American engineers