Eduard von Martens

Who was Eduard von Martens?

Eduard von Martens also known as Carl or Karl Eduard von Martens, was a German zoologist.

Born in Stuttgart in 1831, von Martens attended university in Tübingen, where he graduated in 1855. He then moved to Berlin, where he would be based for the remainder of his career, both at the university and the Museum für Naturkunde.

In 1860, he embarked on the Thetis expedition to the Far East. When the expedition returned to Europe in 1862, von Martens continued to travel around Maritime Southeast Asia for 15 months. Back in Berlin, von Martens was curator of the malacological and other invertebrate sections until his death. Von Martens described 155 new genera and almost 1,800 species. He was a foreign member of the Linnean Society of London, and a corresponding member of the Zoological Society of London.