Background

Thomas Commerford Martin was born on July 22, 1856 in London, England, the son of Thomas and Catherine (Commerford) Martin.

Education

He attended an academical school at Gravesend, England, continued his early education under private tutors, and then became a student in divinity at the Countess of Huntingdon Theological College.

Career

Being of a naturally active and adventuresome nature, and intensely interested in physics, although not a trained physicist, he left England at the age of twenty-one and came to the United States with letters to men of prominence here. At that time America offered splendid opportunities for the advancement of a young man interested in scientific research. Alexander Graham Bell, Charles J. Brush, Elihu Thomson, Thomas A. Edison, and others were converting electrical energy from a school-room curiosity into the channels of industrial application in many fields. Martin entered the Edison laboratory at Menlo Park in 1877 and remained there until 1879. Some of the experimental work on which he was engaged during this period had to do with the early phonograph, the electric pen, printing and embossing telegraphs, and the carbon telephone transmitter. He soon developed special aptitude for clear and concise description of mechanical and scientific subjects. In 1878 he began to contribute articles to various New York papers, pointing out in graphic and dramatic style the interesting developments which were taking place or anticipated in the Edison laboratory. Soon this reportorial work became of greater interest to him, or as he put it, he found it "more agreeable than laboratory work with Wheatstone's Bridge, grimy carbon telephone buttons, inky electric pens and rebellious tinfoil. "

Late in the year 1879 he received an invitation to act as editor of a daily newspaper in Kingston, Jamaica, W. I, and being in ill health by reason of his combined experimental and journalistic labors, he eagerly accepted the opportunity, and served on the Daily Gleaner from 1880 until the end of 1882. In 1882 Martin returned to the United States and after serving for a time as editor of the Operator, in 1883 became editor of the Electrical World. In 1890 he became editor of the Electrical Engineer, which in 1899 merged with the Electrical World. From that date until 1909 Martin and W. D. Weaver were joint editors of the journal. During this time the publication became the largest and best known magazine in the electrical field. In the year 1919 he became secretary of the National Electric Light Association, composed of practically all the public service corporations in the country, and continued in active service with that organization until 1921, and in an advisory way until his death. During the years from 1900 to 1915, he acted as special agent for the United States Census Bureau, writing an exhaustive report covering the electrical industries of the United States, published in 1902, and during his career he contributed special electrical articles to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Chambers's Encyclopedia, and The Encyclopedia Americana. Besides these activities, he prepared numerous articles, principally upon electrical subjects, for the North American Review, Century, and other publications.

He was a frequent lecturer before electrical and engineering societies, including the Royal Institution of Engineers, Great Britain, and the Société Internationale des Électriciens, France, as well as various American Colleges and Universities. During the Great War he took an active part on behalf of the allied nations and frequently spoke before and assisted in organizing societies for the successful prosecution of that tragic enterprise. In this special work he became chairman of the Marconi, Fund for Italian War Relief, and secretary of the Florence Nightingale Hospital for the training of nurses in France. He died on May 17, 1924 at the House of Mercy Hospital in Pittsfield, Massachussets.

Achievements

• He was a founder of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (president, 1887 - 88), a member of other scientific, commercial, and charitable societies, and a trustee of the engineering college of George Washington University.

Works

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  • The Story of Electricity

    (Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We h...)

  • The Social Side of the Electric Railway. a Paper

    (Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We h...)

  • Forty Years of Edison Service, 1882-1922; Outlining the Growth and Development of the Edison System in New York City

    (Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We h...)

  • The Inventions

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • The Inventions: Researches and Writing of Nikola Tesla, with Special Reference to His Work in Polyphase Currents and High Potential Lighting

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • The Electric Motor and Its Applications. by T.C. Martin and Joseph Wetzler; Volume 1

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

Connections

Martin was twice married. His first wife was Elizabeth Gould of Kingston whom he married in Jamaica. His second wife was Carmelita Beckwith, whom he married in 1910.

Father:

Thomas Martin

Mother:

Catherine (Commerford) Martin

Wife:

Elizabeth Gould

Wife:

Carmelita Beckwith