Martin, Charles James (1866 - 1955)

Summary

Charles Martin was a physiologist and pathologist who was a pioneer of toxinology in Australia. Between 1891 and 1903 he taught physiology at the Universities of Sydney and Melbourne. During this time he undertook significant research on the chemistry and action of Australian snake venoms and the efficacy of treatments with antivenenes, and heat regulation and respiratory physiology in monotremes and marsupials. On returning to the United Kingdom in 1903 Martin continued his research at the Lister Institute of Disease Prevention, investigating in addition the epidemiology of bubonic plague and typhoid fever, vitamin deficiency diseases, and the nutritive value of proteins. During WW1, as a pathologist with the Australian Army Medical Corps, Martin's recommendations on diet and disease prevention led to greatly improved health for troops in the field. From 1931 to 1933 Martin was Chief of the CSIR Division of Animal Nutrition and Professor of Biochemistry and Physiology at the University of Adelaide.

Details

Chronology

1886

Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc), St Thomas's Hospital., London

1887 - 1891

Career position - Demonstrator and Lecturer, King's College, London

1889

Education - MRCS and LSA, St Thomas's Hospital, London

1890

Education - Bachelor of Medicine (MB), St Thomas's Hospital, London

1891 - 1897

Career position - Demonstrator in Physiology, University of Sydney

1895

Award - Royal Society of New South Wales Medal

1896

Education - Doctor of Science (DSc), St Thomas's Hospital, London

1897

Education - Doctor of Science (DSc), University of Melbourne

1897 - 1900

Career position - Lecturer in Physiology, University of Melbourne

1898

Career position - President, Section D (Biology), Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science

1900 - 1903

Career position - Acting Professor of Physiology, University of Melbourne

1901 - 1955

Award - Fellow, The Royal Society, London (FRS)

1903 - 1930

Career position - Inaugural Director, The Lister Institute, England

1908

Award - Doctor of Science (DSc), honoris causa, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom

1912 - ?

Career position - Professor in Experimental Pathology, University of London

1913 - 1955

Education - Fellow, Royal College of Physicians, United Kingdom

1915 - 1919

Career position - Pathologist, Australian Army Medical Corps

1919

Award - Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) - Australian Infantry Forces, Medical Corps, France and Flanders

1922

Award - Hon DCL, University of Durham, United Kingdom

1922

Award - Hon LLD, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom

1923

Award - Medal of the Royal Society, London

1927

Award - Knight Bachelor (Kt)

1931 - 1933

Career position - Professor of Biochemistry and General Physiology, University of Adelaide

1931 - 1933

Career position - Chief, CSIR Division of Animal Nutrition

1932

Career event - Elected Member (Physiology?), Australian National Research Council

Related entries

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

• Charles James Martin - Records, 1895 - 1957, MS 011; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Corporate Records and Archives Strategies

• Charles James Martin - Records, 1930 - 1935; Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Corporate Records and Archives Strategies. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

• Collins, David, Chemistry in 19th Australia - Select Bibliography, An exhibition of the Encyclopedia circa 2005 with assistance from Ailie Smith and Gavan McCarthy., eScholarship Research Centre (original publisher), Melbourne, 2009, https://eoas.info/exhibitions/ciab/ciab_ALL.html. Details
• Smith, Ailie, Adolph Basser Library Manuscript Collection, eScholarship Research Centre, 2012, http://www.eoas.info/basser_browse.html. Details

Books

• Gibbs, Martin, Charles Martin: His Life and Letters (London: Martin Gibbs, 2011), 296 pp. Details
• Morison, Patricia, The Martin spirit: Charles Martin and the foundation of biological science in Australia (Canberra: Halstead Press, 2019), 296 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Morison, Patricia, 'Martin, Sir Charles James (1866-1955), physiologist and pathologist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 10: 1891 - 1939 Lat-Ner, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1986), pp. 423-425. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100414b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

• Anon, 'Obituary: Charles James Martin', Medical Journal of Australia, 1955 (1) (1955), 809-12. Details
• Chick, Harriette, 'Charles James Martin, 1866-1955', Biographical memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 2 (1956), 173-208, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.1956.0013. Details
• Copping, A. M., 'Sir Charles James Martin - a biographical sketch (1866 - 1955)', Journal of nutrition, 101 (1) (1971), 3-8. Details
• Copping, Alice M., 'Sir Charles James Martin - a biographical sketch (1866 - 1955)', Journal of nutrition, 101 (1) (1971), 1-8. Details
• Fairley, N., 'Sir Charles Martin, C.M.G., D.SC., LL.D., D.C.L., F.R.C.P., F.R.S.', Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 49 (3) (1955), 289-90. Details
• Hawgood, B. J., 'Sir Charles James Martin MD FRS: Australian serpents and Indian plague, one hundred years ago', Toxicon, 35 (7) (1997), 999-1010. Details
• Hume, E. M., 'Obituary: Charles James Martin, Kt, C.M.G., F.R.C.P., D.Sc., F.R.S. (9 January 1866 - 15 February 1955)', British journal of nutrition, 10 (1956), 1-7. Details
• Martin, C. J., 'The curative value of Calmette's antivenomous serum in the treatment of inoculations with the poisons of Australian snakes', Intercolonial medical journal of Australasia, 2 (1897), 527-36. Details
• Martin, C.J., 'Note on a Method of Separating Colloids from Crystalloids by Filtration', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 30 (1896), 147-149. Details
• Martin, C.J.; and Smith, John McGarvie, 'The Venom of the Australian Black Snake (Pseudachis porphyriacus)', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 26 (1892), 240-264, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41721418. Details
• Robertson, Muriel, 'Charles James Martin 9th January 1866 - 15th February 1955', Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology, 71 (2) (1956), 519-534. Details
• Robertson, Muriel; and Inglis, Keith, 'Charles James Martin 9th January 1866 - 15 February 1955', Journal of pathology and bacteriology, 71 (2) (1956), 519-34. Details
• Schedvin, C. B., 'Environment, Economy and Australian Biology 1890-1939', Historical Studies, 21 (1984), 11-28. Details

Resources

• Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society [Online resource], Royal Society of London, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.1956.0013. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/84827020. Details
• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q5079447. Details
• 'Martin, Charles James (1866-1955)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1474286. Details

Resource Sections

• 'Martin, Charles James - Ms 11', in Listing of Adolph Basser Library holdings, Australian Academy of Science, 1994, http://www.science.org.au/basser/manuscript-collection/ms011.html. Details

Reviews

• Gibbs, Martin, Charles Martin: His Life and Letters (2011)
  Jones, Ross L., Historical Records of Australian Science, 24 (1), (2013), 167-8, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR12024. Details

See also

• Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Technology in Australia 1788-1988, Online edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, 3 May 2000, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/index_m.html. Details
• Fenner, Frank ed., History of Microbiology in Australia (Melbourne: Australian Society for Microbiology, 1990), 624 pp. Details
• French, E. L.; and Stewart, D.F., 'Lionel Bately Bull, 1889-1978', Historical Records of Australian Science, 5 (4) (1983), 90-110. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9830540090. Details
• Howie-Willis, Ian, 'Malariology in Australia between the first and second world wars (part 2 of "Pioneers of Australian military malariology")', Journal of Military and Veterans' Health, 24 (2) (2016), 28-39. Details
• Pearn, John and Winkel, Kenneth D., 'Toxinology in Australia's Colonial Era: a Chronology and Perspective of Human Envenomation in 19th Century Australia', Toxicon, 48 (7) (2006), 726-737. Details
• Russell, K. F., The Melbourne Medical School 1862-1962 (Melbourne: 1977). Details
• Winkel, Kenneth D.; Mirtschin, Peter and Pearn, John, 'Twentieth Century Toxinology and Antivenom development in Australia', Toxicon, 48 (7) (2006), 738-754 . Details