Édouard-Alfred Martel

Who was Édouard-Alfred Martel?

Édouard-Alfred Martel, 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 study, maintained an extensive archive, and in 1895 founded Société de Spéléologie, the first organisation devoted to cave science in the world.