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{{Short description|British chemist (1910-2002)}}
{{about||the Canadian lawyer and judge|Archer Martin (judge)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name              = Archer Martin
|image             = Archer John Porter Martin Nobel.jpg
|birth_name        = Archer John Porter Martin
|birth_date        = {{birth date|df=y|1910|3|1}}
|birth_place       = [[London]], England
|death_date        = {{death date and age|df=y|2002|7|28|1910|3|1}}
|death_place       = [[Llangarron]], [[Herefordshire]], England
|spouse = {{Marriage|Judith Bagenal|1943}}
|children = 5
|field             = [[Chemistry]]
|work_institutions = [[University of Sussex]], [[University of Houston]] in Texas, [[École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne|EPFL]]
|alma_mater        = [[Peterhouse, Cambridge]]
|doctoral_advisor  = 
|doctoral_students = 
|known_for         = [[Gas chromatography]]<br>[[Paper chromatography]]<br>[[Partition chromatography]]
|influences        = 
|influenced        = 
|prizes            = [[List of fellows of the Royal Society elected in 1950|FRS]] (1950)<br>[[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]] (1952)<br>[[John Price Wetherill Medal]] (1959)<br>[[Leverhulme Medal (Royal Society)|Leverhulme Medal]] (1963)
}}

'''Archer John Porter Martin''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE|FRS}} (1 March 1910 – 28 July 2002) was a British chemist who shared the 1952 [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]] for the invention of partition [[chromatography]] with [[Richard Synge]].<ref name="Jones">{{cite web |author-first=Mark |author-last=Jones|title=Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry  |url=https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/gas-chromatography-mass-spectrometry.html |website=American Chemical Society |access-date=19 November 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Nobel Winner Archer Martin Dies|url=https://apnews.com/5ed3f757479daeef349ca528117234a9|access-date=2020-06-26|website=AP NEWS}}</ref>

==Early life==
Martin's father was a [[General practitioner|GP]]. Martin was educated at [[Bedford School]], and [[Peterhouse, Cambridge]].{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}

==Career==
Working first in the [[Physical Chemistry]] Laboratory, he moved to the [[Dunn Nutritional Laboratory]], and in 1938 moved to Wool Industries Research Institution in [[Leeds]]. He was head of the [[biochemistry]] division of Boots Pure Drug Company from 1946 to 1948, when he joined the [[Medical Research Council (UK)|Medical Research Council]]. There, he was appointed head of the physical chemistry division of the [[National Institute for Medical Research]] in 1952, and was chemical consultant from 1956 to 1959.

He specialised in biochemistry, in some aspects of [[vitamin]]s E and B<sub>2</sub>, and in techniques that laid the foundation for several new types of [[chromatography]].<ref>{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1146/annurev.bi.19.070150.002505| pmid = 14771840| volume = 19| issue = 1| pages = 517–542| last = Martin| first = A J P| title = Partition Chromatography| journal = Annual Review of Biochemistry|year = 1950}}</ref> He developed [[partition chromatography]] whilst working on the separation of [[amino acid]]s,<ref>{{Cite journal| volume = 35| issue = 12| pages = 1358–1368| last1 = Martin| first1 = A J P| last2 = Synge| first2 = R L M| title = A new form of chromatogram employing two liquid phases A theory of chromatography. 2. Application to the micro-determination of the higher monoamino-acids in proteins| journal = Biochemical Journal|year = 1941| doi=10.1042/bj0351358| pmid = 16747422| pmc = 1265645}}</ref> and later developed [[gas-liquid chromatography]] with [[Anthony T. James]].<ref>{{Cite journal| volume = 19| issue = 5| pages = 506–512| last = Ettre| first = C.| title = Milestones in Chromatography: The Birth of Partition Chromatography| journal = LCGC| access-date = 26 February 2016| year = 2001| url = http://images.alfresco.advanstar.com/alfresco_images/pharma/2014/08/22/1598ed6f-5bbe-400b-bc08-ff07d2c59826/article-2090.pdf| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304170852/http://images.alfresco.advanstar.com/alfresco_images/pharma/2014/08/22/1598ed6f-5bbe-400b-bc08-ff07d2c59826/article-2090.pdf| archive-date = 4 March 2016| url-status = dead}}</ref> Amongst many honours, he received his Nobel Prize in 1952.<ref>{{Cite web| last = Nobel Media| title = Archer J.P. Martin – Facts| access-date = 27 February 2016| url = https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1952/martin-facts.html}}</ref>

After his retirement from the University of Sussex, he was visiting professor at both the [[University of Houston]] in Texas and the [[École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne|EPFL]] (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) in Switzerland.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2002-08-06|title=Archer Martin, 92; Chemist Won Share of Nobel Prize in 1952|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-aug-06-me-passings6.4-story.html|access-date=2021-06-03|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Nobel Winner Archer Martin Dies|url=https://apnews.com/article/5ed3f757479daeef349ca528117234a9|access-date=2021-06-03|website=AP NEWS}}</ref>

He published far fewer papers than the typical Nobel winners—only 70 in all—but his ninth paper contained the work that would eventually win him the Nobel Prize.  The [[University of Houston]] dropped him from its chemistry faculty in 1979 (when he was 69 years old) because he was not publishing enough.<ref name=nyt>{{Cite news|last=O'Connor|first=Anahad|date=2002-08-06|title=Archer Martin, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, Dies at 92|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/06/world/archer-martin-nobel-laureate-in-chemistry-dies-at-92.html|access-date=2020-06-26|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

==Awards==
Archer Martin shared the 1952 [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]] for the invention of partition [[chromatography]] with [[Richard Synge]].<ref name="Nobel">{{cite web|title=The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1952 Archer J.P. Martin, Richard L.M. Synge |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1952/|publisher=Nobel Foundation|access-date=12 March 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=O'Connor|first1=Anahad|title=Archer Martin, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, Dies at 92|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/06/world/archer-martin-nobel-laureate-in-chemistry-dies-at-92.html|access-date=12 March 2018|work=The New York Times|date=6 August 2002}}</ref>

Archer Martin's 1954 paper with [[Anthony T. James]], "Gas-Liquid Chromatography: A Technique for the Analysis and Identification of Volatile Materials” reported the discovery of [[gas-liquid chromatography]].<ref name="James">{{cite journal|last1=JAMES|first1=AT|last2=MARTIN|first2=AJ|title=Gas-liquid chromatography; a technique for the analysis and identification of volatile materials.|journal=British Medical Bulletin|year=1954|volume=10|issue=3|pages=170–6|pmid=13199288|url=https://academic.oup.com/bmb/article-abstract/10/3/170/264438?redirectedFrom=fulltext|access-date=12 March 2018|doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.bmb.a069416|url-access=subscription}}</ref> This was performed at the [[National Institute for Medical Research]] in [[Mill Hill]], London, which became the [[Francis Crick Institute]] in 2016.<ref name="Crick">{{cite web|title=Mill Hill History|url=https://www.crick.ac.uk/about-us/background/mill-hill-history/|publisher=The Francis Crick Institute|access-date=12 March 2018}}</ref> It was honoured by a Citation for Chemical Breakthrough Award from the Division of History of Chemistry of the [[American Chemical Society]] presented in 2016 to the Francis Crick Institute.<ref name="breakthrough">{{cite web|title=Citations for Chemical Breakthrough Awards 2017 Awardees|url=http://www.scs.illinois.edu/~mainzv/HIST/awards/CCB-2017_Awardees.php|website=Division of the History of Chemistry|access-date=12 March 2018}}</ref>

Martin was elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] in 1950, and made a CBE in 1960.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/aug/05/guardianobituaries.highereducation|title=Obituary: Archer Martin|first=Pearce|last=Wright|date=5 August 2002|website=The Guardian|access-date=19 March 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Lovelock | first1 = J. | author-link = James Lovelock| doi = 10.1098/rsbm.2004.0012 | title = Archer John Porter Martin CBE. 1 March 1910 -- 28 July 2002: Elected F.R.S. 1950 | journal = [[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society]] | volume = 50 | pages = 157–170 | year = 2004 | pmid =  15754473| s2cid = 21916475 }}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1943 he married Judith Bagenal (1918–2006), and together they had two sons and three daughters.<ref name="auto"/> In the last years of his life he suffered from [[Alzheimer's disease]].

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Nobelprize|name=Archer J.P. Martin}}
* {{NPG name}}
* Martin's Nobel lecture: [https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1952/martin-lecture.html The Development of Partition Chromatography]
*[https://www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/martins-columns/7595.article M Martin's Column's: Classic Kit]

{{Nobel Prize in Chemistry Laureates 1951-1975}}
{{1952 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Archer John Porter}}
[[Category:1910 births]]
[[Category:2002 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge]]
[[Category:English biochemists]]
[[Category:Scientists from London]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Chemistry]]
[[Category:British Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:People educated at Bedford School]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:English Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:English physical chemists]]
[[Category:National Institute for Medical Research faculty]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire]]