Édouard-Alfred Martel
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Édouard-Alfred Martel (1859 - 1938), the 'father of modern speleology', was a world pioneer of cave exploration, study, and documentation. Martel explored thousands of caves in his native France and many other countries, popularized the pursuit of cave exploration, introduced the concept of speleology as a distinct area of study, maintained an extensive archive, and in 1895 founded the Société de Spéléologie, the first organization devoted to cave science in the world.
Amongst his exploits were:
- the exploration of the underground river of the Abîme de Bramabiau, France (1888);
- the descent and exploration of the Gouffre de Padirac, France (1889);
- the exploration of the Marble Arch Caves, Ireland (1895);
- the first complete descent of Gaping Gill, England (1895);
- a three-day visit to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, in October 1912 including barometric determinations of the elevations of the cave's different levels.
Martel bought the Gouffre de Padirac, and turned it into a show cave. He wrote many books and articles about speleology, most notably Les Cévennes (1888) and Les Abîmes (1894).
