Optical Measuring Instruments. Their Construction, Theory, and Use

Historical Significance: Martin FRAS, DSc, ARCS, DIC (1891-1981) was Professor of Technical Optics in the Department of Physics in the Imperial College of Science and Technology London 1944-1951. The Department of Physics had its origins in the teaching of Mechanical Science at the Government School of Mines and Science (later the Royal School of Mines) which opened in 1851. In 1853 Applied Mechanics and Experimental Physics were taught at the School. After 1872 Physics, Chemistry and Natural History were transferred to South Kensington. Astronomy was taught from 1882, with the first Professor of Astronomical Physics being appointed in 1887. In 1911 a Department and Committee for Technical Optics was established, which in 1918 separated from the Department of Physics. By 1926, the department had become a postgraduate section of the Department of Physics, and later became the Applied Optics Section. Martin devised a lantern test for colour vision in 1939, known as the Martin Lantern (British Journal of Ophthalmology 1939;23:1-20; doi:10.1136/bjo.23.1.1) and worked in the same Department as did Professor WD Wright, who is famous for his research on normal and abnormal colour vision. See books by same author Cat Nos 1010 and 1011