[1] After finishing his studies in railway engineering Joseph Martin went to the Russian Empire and participated in the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878).

Joseph Martin picked up the threads of the explorations made previously by Peter Kropotkin to find a route between the Lena and the Amur basins, surveying the then little-known Stanovoy Highlands.

He made a significant contribution to the cartography of Eastern Siberia and was awarded the gold medal of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society.

[1] [2] On his last journey Joseph Martin wished to explore the Russian Turkestan, but he fell ill while traveling westwards across China and died in May 1892 in Novy Margelan.

[3] Pik Martena (Russian: Пик Мартена) in the Kodar Range, part of the Stanovoy, was named in his honor.