Martha Goodway is an American metallurgist, specializing in archaeometallurgy, the study of traditional techniques of mining, smelting, and working metals; and an expert in the use of metals in historical harpsichords.

Martha Goodway was raised in Roslindale, Massachusetts. She came from a family of engineers.^[1] She graduated from Roslindale High School in 1952,^[2] and earned a bachelor's degree in general engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1957.^[3] She was one of only nineteen women to earn degrees at MIT that year.^[4]

After college she became interested in conservation science, and studied with William Young at the Objects Conservation and Scientific Research Laboratory in Boston. Through Young's connections, she became a metallurgist at the Conservation Analytical Laboratory of the Smithsonian Institution. She became the first metallurgist to work full time in a U.S museum.^[1] She worked there for 41 years.^[1] In that job, she worked on such diverse historical artifacts as waterproof Greek vessels,^[5] Etruscan mirrors,^[6] 18th-century wire jewelry from Germany,^[7] and the crankcase of the Wright Brothers' first flyer.^[8] She was also consulted for comments on the restoration of the Statue of Liberty.^[9]

She developed an interest in the use of metals in historical musical instruments, particularly the harpsichord,^[10][11] and co-authored a book on the subject in 1987.^[12]

Goodway currently holds the title Archaeometallurgist Emeritus at the Smithsonian's Museum Conservation Institute.^[13]