Édouard-Alfred Martel

Édouard-Alfred Martel
Born 1 July 1859(1859-07-01)
Pontoise
Died 3 June 1938(1938-06-03) (aged 78)
Montbrison
Known for Father of modern speleology

Édouard-Alfred Martel (1 July 1859, Pontoise, Val-d'Oise – 3 June 1938, Montbrison), the 'father of modern speleology',[1] 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,[2] the first organization devoted to cave science in the world.

Amongst his exploits were:

Martel bought the Gouffre de Padirac, and turned it into a show cave.

Contents

Bibliography

Martel wrote many books and articles about speleology, hydrology and geology, of which most are listed here:[3][4]

Books

Articles

See also

References

Further reading

External links