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Édouard-Alfred Martel (1 July 1859, Pontoise, Val-d'Oise – 3 June 1938, Montbrison), 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, popularised the pursuit of cave exploration, introduced the concept of speleology as a distinct area of scientific study, maintained an extensive archive, and in 1895 founded フランス語:Société de Spéléologie, the first organisation devoted to cave science in the world. ==Life and Exploration== 〕}} Édouard-Alfred Martel was born in Pontoise, Seine-et-Oise on 1 July 1859. Born into a family of lawyers, he studied at the Lycée Condorcet in Paris. Early on, he became passionate about geography and the natural sciences and in 1877 he won first prize in an open competition for geography. He was a great reader of the works of Jules Verne. In 1866, while holidaying with his parents, he visited the Caves of Gargas in the Pyrenees. Other trips allowed him to travel to Germany, Austria and Italy. In 1879, he visited Postojna Cave in Slovenia, an extensive cave system. In 1886, after completing his military service, he earned a law degree and became a licensed attorney with the Commercial Court of the Seine. Martel devotes his leisure and holiday time to travels across France. From 1883, he conducts work on the karstic plateaus of the Causses, shaped by the gorges of the Tarn, Jonte, Dourbie and Lot. In June 1888, he began his caving career in the Bramabiau gorge in Gard. Here he goes with a few companions into a rock cavity where a stream known as ''Bonheur'' sinks and reappears farther along the Bramabiau Gorge. This expedition discovered two kilometers of passages. That same June with the same team he explored the Dargilan Cave along the Jonte Gorge over a mile away. In 1889 visited Padirac Cave, near Gramat. He climbs down the entrance chasm and reaches an underground river at a depth of 100m. Martel and his cousin Gaupillat set off to explore with a canoe, discovering two kilometres of new passage. Martel later bought the Padirac Cave, and turned it into a show cave. In July 1890 he married Aline de Launay, sister of Louis de Launay, a professor of geology and future member of the Academy of Sciences. Collaboration with Louis de Launay provide a scientific basis for some of Martel publications, including articles in the journal La Nature, which Martel and Launay were later editors. In 1894, he published ''The Abyss'', a book in which he describes the wonders of the underworld he discovered and visited during the six seasons of exploration he undertook from 1888 to 1893. During this period, he visited and indexed more than 230 caves. In 1895, he ventured further afield and organised an expedition to Ireland and England. He discovered the underground lake of Marble Arch in Northern Ireland. In Yorkshire he made the first descent into the pothole of Gaping Gill, an open shaft 110 meters deep. That same year, he founded the Speleological Society and starts a periodic newsletter, Spelunca. In 1896, he was invited by the Archduke Luis Salvator, a cousin of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, to visit their country. With his foreman and journeyman Louis Armand, he explored several caves on the island of Mallorca. In the Cave of Drach near Porto Cristo he discovered the largest underground lake known at the time. Martel's explorations intensified around this time. His priority is to explore the caves of Causses. He also explored the caves and caverns of the limestone regions of Savoie, Jura, Provence and the Pyrenees. He traveled throughout Europe, Belgium, Dalmatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, where he investigated the course of the Trebišnjica, considered the one of the longest underground rivers in the world. In 1899 he finally left professional life to devote himself to his scientific research. He served as editor of La Naturefrom 1905 to 1909 and was a member of the Société de géographie, of which he was elected president. In 1912, he spent three days exlporing in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky where he undertook scientific work including barometric determinations of the elevations of the cave's different levels. Martel was active in cave exploration from 1888–1914, recording some 1,500 caves during this time. Edward Alfred Martel died 3 June 1938 in St Thomas Guard, near Montbrison in the Loire. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Édouard-Alfred Martel」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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