Archer Martin | |
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| Born | Archer John Porter Martin (1910-03-01)1 March 1910 London, England |
| Died | 28 July 2002(2002-07-28) (aged 92) Llangarron,Herefordshire, England |
| Alma mater | Peterhouse, Cambridge |
| Known for | Gas chromatography Paper chromatography Partition chromatography |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 5 |
| Awards | Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1952) John Price Wetherill Medal (1959) Leverhulme Medal (1963) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Chemistry |
| Institutions | University of Sussex,University of Houston in Texas,EPFL |
Archer John Porter MartinCBE FRS (1 March 1910 – 28 July 2002) was a British chemist who shared the 1952Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the invention of partitionchromatography withRichard Synge.[1][2]
Martin's father was aGP. Martin was educated atBedford School, andPeterhouse, Cambridge.[citation needed]
Working first in thePhysical Chemistry Laboratory, he moved to theDunn Nutritional Laboratory, and in 1938 moved to Wool Industries Research Institution inLeeds. He was head of thebiochemistry division of Boots Pure Drug Company from 1946 to 1948, when he joined theMedical Research Council. There, he was appointed head of the physical chemistry division of theNational Institute for Medical Research in 1952, and was chemical consultant from 1956 to 1959.
He specialised in biochemistry, in some aspects ofvitamins E and B2, and in techniques that laid the foundation for several new types ofchromatography.[3] He developedpartition chromatography whilst working on the separation ofamino acids,[4] and later developedgas-liquid chromatography withAnthony T. James.[5] Amongst many honours, he received his Nobel Prize in 1952.[6]
After his retirement from the University of Sussex, he was visiting professor at both theUniversity of Houston in Texas and theEPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) in Switzerland.[7][8]
He published far fewer papers than the typical Nobel winners—only 70 in all—but his ninth paper contained the work that would eventually win him the Nobel Prize. TheUniversity of Houston dropped him from its chemistry faculty in 1979 (when he was 69 years old) because he was not publishing enough.[9]
Archer Martin shared the 1952Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the invention of partitionchromatography withRichard Synge.[10][11]
Archer Martin's 1954 paper withAnthony T. James, "Gas-Liquid Chromatography: A Technique for the Analysis and Identification of Volatile Materials" reported the discovery ofgas-liquid chromatography.[12] This was performed at theNational Institute for Medical Research inMill Hill, London, which became theFrancis Crick Institute in 2016.[13] It was honoured by a Citation for Chemical Breakthrough Award from the Division of History of Chemistry of theAmerican Chemical Society presented in 2016 to the Francis Crick Institute.[14]
Martin was elected aFellow of the Royal Society in 1950, and made a CBE in 1960.[15][16]
In 1943 he married Judith Bagenal (1918–2006), and together they had two sons and three daughters.[15] In the last years of his life he suffered fromAlzheimer's disease.
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