Édouard-Alfred Martel Édouard-Alfred Martel Édouard-Alfred Martel (1 July 1859, Pontoise, Val-d'Oise – 3 June 1938, Montbrison), the 'father of modern speleology', was a world pioneer of cave exploration, study, and documentation. Martel explored thousands of caves in his native France and many other countries, popularised the pursuit of cave exploration, introduced the concept of speleology as a distinct area of scientific study, maintained an extensive archive, and in 1895 founded , the first organisation devoted to cave science in the world. Édouard-Alfred Martel was born in Pontoise, Seine-et-Oise on 1 July 1859. Born into a family of lawyers, he studied at the
French Federation of Speleology First World War, French speleology was represented mainly by Norbert Casteret and Robert de Joly, who continued the interrupted work of Martel's . On 18 March 1930, an organisational meeting led to the creation of the , whose headquarters were set up at Montpellier, in the headquarters of the Department of Agriculture. Members of the organisation included: Martel (Honorary Chairman), de Joly (Chairman), Degrully (Vice President), Casteret, Bernard Gèze, l'Abbé Giry, Guy de Lavaur, Fournier, Milhau and Contejean, among others. The goal of the club was to liaise between cavers and help develop the activities of miners underground. The association