Friderich Martens (1635–1699)
, Tjärnö Marine Biological Laboratory, Göteborg University
International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) was a German

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

and naturalist who conducted the first scientific observations of the nature, animal life and climate of

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norway, Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of continental Europe, mainland Europe, it lies about midway be ...

.
Government of Norway, document archives He published his notes in the book "''Spitzbergische oder Groenlandische Reise-Beschreibung, gethan im Jahre 1671''" and this book became a

reference work A reference work is a document, such as a Academic publishing#Scholarly paper, paper, book or periodical literature, periodical (or their electronic publishing, electronic equivalents), to which one can refer for information. The information ...

for many decades.

Biography

There is very little documentation on Martens' life. He was born in 1635 and worked as a

feldsher A feldsher (, , , , , , ) is a health care professional who provides various medical services limited to emergency treatment and ambulance practice. As such, a feldsher is one kind of mid-level medical practitioner. In Russia, Ukraine and in ...

and physician in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

. In 1671 Martens joined a voyage on a

whaler A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Jap ...

through the

Norwegian Sea The Norwegian Sea (; ; ) is a marginal sea, grouped with either the Atlantic Ocean or the Arctic Ocean, northwest of Norway between the North Sea and the Greenland Sea, adjoining the Barents Sea to the northeast. In the southwest, it is separate ...

Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian language, Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipel ...

. The ''Jonas im Walfisch'', under captain Pieter Pieterszoon van Friesland, left Hamburg on 15 April 1671 heading north. The vessel left Spitsbergen on 22 July again reaching the

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

on 21 August the same year. Martens made detailed notes of his observations and compiled these in his book "''Spitzbergische oder Groenlandische Reise-Beschreibung, gethan im Jahre 1671''" which was published in 1675 , Cronologia Ornitologica by Gottfried Schulzen in Hamburg. The book contains observations of the ocean and weather and descriptions of a number of

arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

plants, birds and animals complete with many drawings. There are also the first notes on the ivory gull, Ardea, Official journal of the Netherlands Ornithologists' Union prior to the thorough description by Constantine Phipps and the

Brünnich's guillemot The thick-billed murre or Brünnich's guillemot (''Uria lomvia'') is a bird in the auk family (Alcidae). This bird is named after the Danish zoologist Morten Thrane Brünnich. The very deeply black North Pacific subspecies ''Uria lomvia arra'' i ...

prior to the thorough description by Morten Brünnich
Fauna och flora (1923) Projekt Runeberg (Swedish) Martens' book was later translated into several languages and was published in Italian language, Italian (1680),

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

(1685),

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

(1694; as a section of a book) and

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

(1715; as an article). Martens died in 1699 at the age of sixty-four.

Legacy

The book remained a reference work for many years and was quoted among others by Constantine Phipps 1774 in "''A Voyage towards the North Pole undertaken … 1773''",

Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (; also called Bernardin de St. Pierre) (19 January 1737, in Le Havre – 21 January 1814, in Éragny, Val-d'Oise) was a French writer and botanist. He is best known for his 1788 novel, '' Paul et Virginie' ...

1796 in "''Études de la nature''" and

Bernard Germain de Lacépède Bernard-Germain-Étienne de La Ville-sur-Illon, comte de Lacépède or La Cépède (; 26 December 17566 October 1825) was a French natural history, naturalist and an active freemason. He is known for his contribution to the Comte de Buffon's g ...

1804 in "''Histoire naturelle des cétacés''". In 1861 Swedish explorer ''

Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld (; 18 November 183212 August 1901) was a Finland-Swedish aristocrat, geologist, mineralogist and Arctic explorer. He was a member of the noble Nordenskiöld family of scientists and held the title of a friherre (ba ...

'' named

Martensøya Martensøya (anglicized as Martens Island) is the easternmost island of Sjuøyane, which lies north of Nordaustlandet, part of the Svalbard archipelago in Arctic Norway. The island is named after the German physician Friderich Martens, who visit ...

, an island among the

Sjuøyane Sjuøyane (English: ''Seven Islands'') is the northernmost part of the Svalbard archipelago north of mainland Norway, and some 20 km north of the eastern major island Nordaustlandet. The islands are the northernmost landmass reachable by normal ...

in honor of Friderich Martens , Norwegian Polar Institute, geographical names The

National Library of Finland The National Library of Finland (, ) is the foremost research library in Finland. Administratively the library is part of the University of Helsinki. From 1919 to 1 August 2006, it was known as the Helsinki University Library (). The Nationa ...

at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

keeps an original copy of a Dutch edition printed in 1710, of which a digital copy is available.
National Library of Finland, University of Helsinki In 2002 a reprint was released in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

.New edition
In 2007 El Museo del Fin del Mundo (Usuahia, Argentina) based on a 1711 copy manuscript kept in its collection, published a Spanish translation of the book.

References

External links

Original book, digitized 2006 at Oxford University

Original book complete with illustrations
digitized by the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

.
English translation
published as part of

John Narborough Admiral Sir John Narborough (or Narbrough, c. 1640–1688) was an English naval commander. He served with distinction in the Anglo-Dutch Wars and against the pirates of the Barbary Coast. He is also known for leading a poorly understood expedi ...

's ''An Account of Several Late Voyages and Discoveries'', London 1711, digitized by the Internet Archive. {{DEFAULTSORT:Martens, Friderich 1635 births 1699 deaths 17th-century German physicians 17th-century German explorers Explorers of the Arctic 17th-century German writers 17th-century German male writers