Harrison Stanford Martland, Date of Birth, Date of Death
TweetHarrison Stanford Martland
American pathologist
Date of Birth: 10-Sep-1883
Date of Death: 01-May-1954
Profession: pathologist
Nationality: United States
Zodiac Sign: Virgo 
About Harrison Stanford Martland
- Harrison Stanford Martland (September 10, 1883 – May 1, 1954) was an American pathologist who coined the term punch drunk. Martland was born in Newark, New Jersey.
- In 1901 he received a BS degree from Western Maryland College and in 1905 he received his MD degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr.
- Martland accepted the appointment of the first full-time paid pathologist at the Newark City Hospital in January 1909.
- On November 16, 1910 he married Myra C.
- Ferdon and they purchased a house at 180 Clinton Avenue, Newark, which was to be their home until his death in 1954.
- When World War I broke out, Dr.
- Martland joined the Bellevue Hospital Unit and as a lieutenant colonel he took charge of a hospital in Vichy, France.
- He later was awarded a Citation for Exceptionally Meritorious and Conspicuous Service by General John Pershing. In June 1925, Dr.
- Martland was chosen to fill the post of Essex County Physician.
- Immediately, he saw the danger of divided authority in the system that allowed a coroner's jury of laymen to decide causes of sudden death; therefore, he set out to establish the medical examiner system in Essex County.
- He won his fight in the State Legislature and the county government in March 1927, and was appointed Chief Medical Examiner by the Essex County Board of Freeholders.
- In April 1933, Dr.
- Martland was named Professor of Forensic Medicine at New York University, a post he held for fifteen years. Dr.
- Martland made important contributions in the fields of pathology and forensic medicine.
- The work that attracted the most attention was his research begun in 1924, on the effects of radioactive material on the human body.
- Dr.
- Martland determined that minute traces of radioactivity contained in luminous paint had caused the deaths of watch dial painters employed at the US Radium Corporation in Orange, NJ.
- The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) credits Dr.
- Martland's work with having made it possible for atomic development to proceed with comparative safety.
- At the request of the AEC, Dr.
- Martland prepared a permanent exhibit on radioactive dangers and precautions which is on display in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
- In 1916, Dr.
- Martland alerted dynamite manufacturers to the dangers of occupational poisoning in TNT. It was Dr.
- Martland who proved, back in 1928, that "punch drunk" prize fighters were suffering from a brain injury caused by the rupture of blood vessels.
- He did notable work in phases of cardiac syphilis and in the effects of bullet wounds on the body.
- Dr.
- Martland's accomplishments also included the first paper establishing the lethal effects of beryllium poisoning, which led to implementation of regulatory reforms governing the use of beryllium in industrial plants. Dr.
- Martland received numerous honors and awards.
- Nobel Prize winners came to Newark three times to salute him at annual Harrison S.
- Martland Lectures sponsored by the Essex County Anatomical and Pathological Society.
- The New York Pathological Association named him its first out-of-state president in 1928.
- He was President of the Essex County Medical Society in 1920 and of the Academy of Medicine of Northern New Jersey in 1922.
- In 1943, the Academy of Medicine gave Dr.
- Martland the Edward J.
- Ill Award as the outstanding physician and citizen of the county.
- The Newark City Commission paid tribute to the eminent pathologist when the new city hospital was dedicated the Harrison S.
- Martland Medical Center on January 24, 1954. After forty-five years as Newark City Hospital Pathologist and twenty-five years as Essex County Medical Examiner, Dr.
- Martland retired in November 1953.
- He died on May 1, 1954 at the age of 70.
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