Gordon Eugene Martin
Physicist who automated sonar array design with Jacobian matrix software.
Gordon Eugene Martin, a physicist and author, specialized in piezoelectric materials used in underwater sound transducers. During the Cold War, he created early software that automated the iterative evaluation of direct computer models by employing a Jacobian matrix of complex numbers. This program allowed the Navy Electronics Laboratory to speed up the design of sonar arrays intended to track Soviet Navy submarines.
Born in San Diego on August 22, 1925, Martin was the third of five sons of Carl and Ruth (Fountain) Martin. Before the attack on Pearl Harbor, he used amateur radio to communicate with his brother Harold, who was serving in the Army National Guard on Oahu. Martin relayed information between his brother’s anti-aircraft facility and other San Diego families who had National Guard members stationed there.
In 1943, Martin enlisted in the V-12 Navy College Training Program at Kansas State Teachers College, later transferring to the University of Texas Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps. After being commissioned as an ensign in 1945, he served as a cryptography officer aboard the destroyer USS Higbee (DD-806). Following World War II, he was released to reserve status, completed his electrical engineering degree at the University of California, Berkeley, and joined the NEL team in San Diego in 1947 to continue underwater sound research that had begun in 1942. His early work involved measuring the piezoelectric characteristics of ammonium dihydrogen phosphate (ADP) and Rochelle salt. Recalled to active duty as a lieutenant (junior grade) during the Korean War, he became the first executive officer of the prototype SOSUS station on Eleuthera. As the SOSUS network expanded, he moved to the United States Navy Underwater Sound Laboratory in New London, Connecticut. A 1954 publication of his, describing relationships between circuit coefficients and critical frequencies of admittance in piezoelectric materials, was later cited in the IEEE standard on piezoelectricity. From 1954 to 1960, he led the NEL team developing a variable magnetic reluctance transducer for a low-frequency array.
Early sonar transducer design relied on simplistic assumptions and trial-and-error modifications, which became impractical for arrays with many variables coupled acoustically through water.
Quick Facts
- Birth Date
- 1925-08-22
- Birth Place
- San Diego, California, U.S.
- Field
- piezoelectricity / linear algebra
- Workplaces
- Navy Electronics Laboratory / Martin Acoustic Software Technology
- Education
- University of California, Berkeley / University of California, Los Angeles / San Diego State University / University of Texas at Austin
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Gordon Eugene Martin was born in San Diego on August 22, 1925, the third of five sons of Carl and Ruth Martin. Before the attack on Pearl Harbor, he used amateur radio to communicate with his brother Harold, who was serving with the Army National Guard on Oahu, and relayed information to other San Diego families. Martin enlisted in the V-12 Navy College Training Program in 1943, was commissioned as an ensign in 1945, and served as cryptography officer aboard the destroyer USS Higbee. After World War II, he completed an electrical engineering degree at UC Berkeley and joined the Navy Electronics Laboratory in San Diego in 1947, continuing underwater sound research. He was recalled to active duty during the Korean War as the first executive officer of the prototype SOSUS station on Eleuthera, and later moved to the Navy Underwater Sound Laboratory in New London, Connecticut.
Reader's Guide
Martin's 1964 software, developed in NELIAC and later translated to Fortran, introduced an automated approach to inverse modeling using a Jacobian matrix and its inverse to determine dielectric, elastic, and piezoelectric losses in barium titanate ceramic components. This replaced the earlier trial-and-error method for sonar transducer design, which had become impractical for large arrays with many variables. His work enabled the Navy Electronics Laboratory to accelerate the design of sonar arrays for tracking Soviet submarines. Martin's 1954 publication on circuit coefficients and critical frequencies in piezoelectric materials was later cited in the IEEE standard on piezoelectricity. He continued at NEL until retirement in 1980, then founded Martin Analysis Software Technology Company, contracting with the Navy for high-resolution beamforming and personal computer aided engineering of underwater transducers. He published an expanded theory of matrices in 2012.
Did You Know?
- Martin communicated with his brother's anti-aircraft facility on Oahu via amateur radio before the attack on Pearl Harbor.
- His 1964 software used a Jacobian matrix to determine losses separately for dielectric, elastic, and piezoelectric properties.
- He was awarded a patent for discrete amplitude shading for lobe-suppression in a discrete transducer array.
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