John Martin
John Martin first came to Monterey Bay as a young faculty member at Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station, then later moved to the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories. Dr. Martin asked important questions about the age of oceanic waters, about organic composition of the deep sea, and especially about limitations of phytoplankton productivity by iron. Dr. Martin realized that iron limitation could be widespread in the polar and equatorial regions and that this could limit primary productivity and carbon fixation over large areas of the world's oceans. He had the imaginative idea that the extent of global warming could be decreased if one could fertilize barren ocean areas with iron, thus increasing CO2 fixation. This bold idea caught the imagination of the public as well as the scientific community and resulted in international acclaim as well as controversy.
John Martin's work as a citizen and administrator was also exemplary. As Director of the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, he recruited top faculty and students and raised the funds and provided the spirit to make MLML into a world-class research and teaching institution. He also helped educate the public and policy makers about the importance of Monterey Bay and was a leader in the establishment of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. John Martin was an inspiration to all who knew him.
Publications
Coale, K., Bitondo, A., Christensen, S., Drake, C., Fennie, W., Loiacono, S., … Worden, S. (2015). John Holland Martin From Picograms to Petagrams and Copepods to Climate: The Class of MS 280, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories. Limnology and Oceanography Bulletin, 24, 1-19. doi:10.1002/lob.10074
Bioaccumulation of heavy metals by littoral and pelagic marine organisms. John Holland Martin; Moss Landing Marine Laboratories.; Environmental Research Laboratory (Narragansett, R.I.)
Publisher: Narragansett, R.I. : Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Environmental Research Laboratory ; Springfield, Va. : For sale by the National Technical Information Service, 1979.
Martin J.H. 1970 The possible transport of trace metals via moulted copepod exoskeletons. Limn. and Oceano. v.15 no.5 pp.756-761
Martin J.H. 1970 PPhytoplankton-Zooplankton relationships in Narragansett Bay. IV Seasonal importance of grazing.. Limn. and Oceano. v.15 n.3
Martin J.H. 1969 Distribution of C, H, N, P, Fe, Mn, Zn, Ca, Sr, and Sc in plankton samples collected off Panama and Colombia. BioScience, v.19 no.10 pp.898-901
Martin J.H. 1968 Phytoplankton-Zooplankton relationships in Narragansett Bay. III Seasonal changes in zooplankton excretion reate in relation to phytoplankton abundance. Limn. and Oceano. v. 13 n. 1 pp. 63-71
Martin, J.; et. al. 1965 Circulation superficielle Dans L'Ocean Indien. Resultats de mesures faites a l;aide du courantometre a electrodes remorquees G.E. K. entre 1955 et 1963. Cahiers Oceanographiques, v.17 sup. no. 3, pp.221-241
New York Times Obituary
Earth Observatory Obituary