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
International Journal of Speleology Museo di Speleologia "V. Rivera" also contributed to the financial support of the journal. The issues of the journal were alternatively dedicated to biospeleology and physical speleology until 1998 when the journal was split into two different series: "A" for Biospeleology (which ceased publication in 2003) and "B" for Physical Speleology. In addition to the regular issues of the journal, in 1996 a "Manual for Karst water analysis" by W.E. Krawczyk was printed. International Journal of Speleology The International Journal of Speleology is since 1978 the official peer-reviewed scientific journal of the "Union Internationale de Spéléologie". Since 1981 it has