Johann Karl Ludwig Martin (November 24, 1851, Jever

Jever

Jever is the capital of the district of Friesland in Lower Saxony, Germany. The name Jever is usually associated with a major brand of beer which is produced here, the city is also a popular holiday resort. Jever was granted city status in 1536. Unofficially Jever is sometimes referred to as...

 (Ostfriesland) - November 14, 1942, Leiden) was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 geologist

Geologist

A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...

. He was professor in geology at Leiden University

Leiden University

Leiden University , located in the city of Leiden, is the oldest university in the Netherlands. The university was founded in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt in the Eighty Years' War. The royal Dutch House of Orange-Nassau and Leiden University still have a close...

 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

Paleontology

Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...

 and stratigraphical

Stratigraphy

Stratigraphy, a branch of geology, studies rock layers and layering . It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks....

 research on the Cenozoic

Cenozoic

The Cenozoic era is the current and most recent of the three Phanerozoic geological eras and covers the period from 65.5 mya to the present. The era began in the wake of the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous that saw the demise of the last non-avian dinosaurs and...

 fauna

Fauna

Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...

 of the Dutch East Indies

Dutch East Indies

The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....

, especially on mollusks.

Karl Martin was student at Göttingen

Göttingen

Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...

, where he became PhD in 1874. He then worked as a teacher at Wismar

Wismar

Wismar , is a small port and Hanseatic League town in northern Germany on the Baltic Sea, in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern,about 45 km due east of Lübeck, and 30 km due north of Schwerin. Its natural harbour, located in the Bay of Wismar is well-protected by a promontory. The...

, 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

Zoology

Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...

 Hermann Schlegel

Hermann Schlegel

Hermann Schlegel was a German ornithologist and herpetologist.-Early life and education:Schlegel was born at Altenburg, the son of a brassfounder. His father collected butterflies, which stimulated Schlegel's interest in natural history...

, the director of the museum. When a chair 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

Tertiary

The Tertiary is a deprecated term for a geologic period 65 million to 2.6 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary...

 stratigraphy of the Dutch East Indies. His successor at Leiden University was B.G. Escher

Berend George Escher

Berend George Escher was a Dutch geologist.Escher had a broad interest, but his research was mainly on crystallography, mineralogy and volcanology. He was a pioneer in experimental geology. He was a half-brother of the artist M.C. Escher, and had some influence on his work due to his knowledge of...

. Among his students were G.A.F. Molengraaff

Gustaaf Adolf Frederik Molengraaff

Gustaaf Adolf Frederik Molengraaff was a Dutch geologist, biologist and explorer. He became an authority on the geology of South Africa and the Dutch East Indies....

, J.H.F. Umbgrove

Johannes Herman Frederik Umbgrove

Johannes Herman Frederik Umbgrove , called in short Jan Umbgrove, was a Dutch geologist and Earth scientist.Umbgrove studied geology at Leiden University, he finished his studies in 1926...

, L.U. de Sitter and Ph.H. Kuenen

Philip Henry Kuenen

Philip Henry Kuenen was a Dutch geologist.Kuenen spent his earliest youth in Scotland, where his father was professor in physics. He studied geology at Leiden University, where he was a pupil of K. Martin and B.G. Escher. He finished his studies in 1925 and then became assistant to Escher...

.

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
  Scripta Geologica
  Scripta Geologica is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes on vertebrate and invertebrate palaeontology, palaeobotany/palynology, stratigraphy, petrology, and mineralogy, including gemmology with a focus on systematics...
  
  , Vol. 48 p. 3-25 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. 1-130 PDF
• Leloux J., F.P. Wesselingh (2009)Types of Cenozoic Mollusca from Java in the Martin Collection of Naturalis, NNM Technical Bulletin 11 p. 1-765 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
  Scripta Geologica
  Scripta Geologica is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes on vertebrate and invertebrate palaeontology, palaeobotany/palynology, stratigraphy, petrology, and mineralogy, including gemmology with a focus on systematics...
  
  Special Issue 4, p. 293-307 PDF