Georg Matthias von Martens

George Matthias von Martens (12 June 1788, Venice – 24 February 1872, Stuttgart) was a German lawyer, botanist and phycologist.

From 1818 to 1821 he worked in Ulm, afterwards being based in Stuttgart, where in 1829 he became an official interpreter for Italian, Spanish and Portuguese at the Ministry of Justice and the Interior.

[1] As a botanist, he collected specimens from southern Germany, Austria and northern Italy.

He is also known for his studies of freshwater and marine algae, especially species native to eastern Asia.

[2] In 1841, the red algae genus Martensia (family Delesseriaceae) was named in his honor by Constantin Hering.