Background

Rudolf Martin was born on July 1, 1864, in Zürich, Switzerland to south German parents - his father came from Württemberg and his mother from Baden. For a short time his father worked in Zurich as a mechanical engineer, but he soon established his own machine works in Offenburg in Baden.

Education

Martin began his schooling in Offenburg, passed the final secondary school examination there in 1884, and then enrolled in the law faculty of the Baden State University in Freiburg. After two semesters he changed his field to philosophy and left Freiburg in order to continue his studies at Leipzig. He was soon drawn back to the University of Freiburg by the presence of the zoologist Weismann. The latter had developed Darwin’s ideas into a theory known as neo-Darwinism; and his lectures on the theory of evolution, the theory of natural selection, and the continuity of the germ plasm as the foundation of a theory of heredity made an indelible impression on the young Martin.

Weismann emphasized the exact formulation of problems and the scientifically demonstrable axioms of the new biological theories, and this clearly satisfied Martin more than the usual, more speculative theoretical lectures on philosophy. Martin was no doubt especially attracted by the possibilities of uniting scientific conceptions with philosophic views on the origin and destiny of man, possibilities that Weismann had presented to his students in important lectures at Freiburg beginning in 1880. Martin also attended the lectures and anatomic demonstrations of Wiedersheim and enthusiastically took part in the accompanying anatomic sections. With equal interest, he followed the lectures of A. Riehl on critical philosophy and positivism, and Martin’s preoccupation with Kant’s ideas in anthropology may have led to his decision not to become a zoologist. His doctoral dissertation was “Kants philosophische Anschauungen in den Jahren 1762-1766,” which he submitted, under the supervision of Riehl, to the philosophy faculty at Freiburg in 1887. These efforts in natural science and philosophy formed the basis of all his later work.

Career

At the conclusion of his studies, Martin visited, in 1887-1890, almost all the anthropological collections in Europe. He was especially impressed by the holdings of the École d’Anthropologie in Paris, where he twice worked as a volunteer assistant. He became acquainted with leading researchers such as Duval, P. Topinard, L.-P. Manouvrier, and the Demortillet brothers; it was they who persuaded him to return to France in order to work without the obligation to teach. It was in this period that Martin decided to devote himself to anthropology. In 1890-1891 he prepared his Habilitationsschrift, “Zur physischen Anthropologie der Feuerländer,” which was based on an exact description and comparative anatomical evaluation of five Alkaluf tribesmen from Tierra del fuego who had died in Zurich. With this essay, he qualified as privatdocent in physical anthropology on the philosophy faculty at the University of Zurich.

When Georg Ruge was appointed a director of Zurich’s Institute of Anatomy in 1897, he immediately provided Martin with several rooms for anthropologic work. From this, a separate anthropology institute was soon formed, and recognition for Martin was not long in coming. In 1899 Martin was named extraordinary professor of anthropology at Zurich and full professor in 1905. In 1897 he had made a major research expedition to Malaysia, where he took detailed anthropological measurements of a vast number of individuals of various tribes. He presented his results in 1905 in the monograph Die Inlandstämme der malaiischen Halbinsel. This classic work, which has not become obsolete, dealt with tribes existing at the most primitive level of culture then known. In his investigations of the Senoi and the Semang, Martin not only recorded accurately the anatomical and physiological characteristics of these peoples but also made fundamental observations regarding their dwellings, their history, and the entire complex of their social relationships. In addition, he investigated their consanguinity with other primitive populations living in Malaysia. During this project, he constructed new, more exact measuring instruments. In general, these instruments considered the best available at the time, permitted him to obtain the first exact results that could both be employed in comparative studies and be effectively submitted to statistical procedures.

Martin was able to gather around himself in Zurich many gifted students; but his health, already weak at that time, forced him to confine himself to his research. Thus in 1911, he gave up his professorship at Zurich in order to retire to Versailles. There, assisted by his French colleagues and able to draw on the rich material in Paris, he began working on a textbook of anthropology conceived on a grand scale. It appeared in 1914, just before the start of World War I. Taken by surprise by the outbreak of war, Martin managed to flee to Germany from a seaside resort in southern France; however, all his scientific collections and personal assets were impounded. In 1917 he received an appointment as a professor of anthropology at the University of Munich, where he remained for the rest of his life.

Martin’s textbook, which is really a sort of handbook, makes it clear that he took into account all the tendencies within the field of anthropology and that he sharply distinguished it from certain other specialties. He thereby elevated this discipline from the status of an auxiliary science and endowed it with a thoroughly autonomous character.

Furthermore, to improve the teaching of anthropology Martin created first-rate wall charts that were well made and didactically effective. He was constantly preoccupied with adapting his textbook to current developments in the young science, but the second edition was only published posthumously (1928). Prepared by his anthropological co-worker and second wife, Stephanie Oppenheim, it appeared in three volumes. In 1956–1966 a successor to Martin’s chair, Karl Saller, brought out the third edition, in four volumes.

In his later years, Martin turned to the anthropology of European peoples. In particular, prompted by the years of famine in Germany during and after World War I, he undertook important investigations into the influence of hunger on the development of schoolchildren. He also studied the effect of profession and sports on the physique of certain strata of the population. His subjects were students, especially the gymnasts who had gathered for the great German gymnastic festival held at Munich in 1923. In the meantime, however, his activity was severely restricted by heart disease; his death, which was the result of a heart attack, came as a surprise to those other than his close friends.

Only one year before his death he founded his own journal, the Anthropologischer Anzeiger. In it he published sensational studies on the reduced physical development of starving Munich schoolchildren in 1921-1923.

Achievements

• Martin was named Geheimer Regierungsrat and was an honorary or corresponding member of many scientific societies in Germany, Italy, England, Spain, Austria, France, Holland, and Russia. His findings helped to bring about the introduction of remedial measures financed by American institutions, which were immediately effective.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Anthropologie Und Vorgeschichte, Physische Anthropologie Der Schweizerischen Bevölkerung, Urgeschichte Der Schweiz 1901
  • Lehrbuch der Anthropologie 1914

Views

Martin placed special emphasis on the technique of anthropological investigation that he had developed. He wrote repeatedly concerning “instructions for body measurements” and “anthropometry.” Martin was extremely tolerant and objected to the use of malicious or polemical language against his scientific opponents. In his later years, his favorite field of study was Indian philosophy and art. He was warmhearted to both students and friends.

Quotations: "Anthropology is the natural history of the hominids throughout their temporal and spatial distribution. Hence it is established (1) that anthropology is a science of groups, and that as a result human anatomy, physiology, etc. are excluded from its domain as sciences concerned with individuals; (2) that is deals with only the nature of the hominids; and (3) that it encompasses the entire realm of forms of this zoological group without entire realm of forms of this zoological group without any restriction. Anthropology, therefore, has the task of distinguishing all the extinct and recent forms occurring among the hominids, with respect to their corporal properties, of characterizing them, and of investigating their geographical distribution."

"We will never be completely finished with the investigation of life, and if occasionally we seek a provisional conclusion, we know very well that even the best we can give is no more than a step towards the better."

Connections

By his first wife, Martin had three sons. During the final period of his life his second wife, Stephanie Oppenheim, became his trusted co-worker; she also arranged his posthumous papers.

Wife:

Stephanie Oppenheim

mentor:

August Weismann

References

• Dictionary of Scientific Biography: Volumes 9 & 10
  1980