[1] Martin Mortensen was born on North Jutlandic Island in Sindal, Denmark.
He completed a three-year course at the Royal Teachers Seminary and then emigrated to the United States in 1893.
After working in and managing dairies in the Midwest and on the Pacific Coast, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in agriculture at Iowa State College (1908) and a LLD (1934) from Kansas State College.
Mortensen became head of the Dairy Industry Department at Iowa State College in 1909 until 1938, and remained as a professor until 1953.
He was the past president, vice-president and secretary-treasurer of the American Dairy Science Association.