Martin Aitken

Martin Jim Aitken FRS (11 March 1922^[1] – 13 June 2017^[2]) was a British archaeometrist.^[3]^[4]

Aitken was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire, and studied physics at Wadham College, Oxford. He was a fellow of Linacre College, Oxford.^[5] He was Professor of Archaeometry at the University of Oxford from 1985 until he retired in 1989.^[5]^[6]

Aitken organised annual meetings which became the Symposium on Archaeometry and Archaeological Prospection".^[7] He had an interest in absolute dating: radiocarbon dating from 1957, thermoluminescence dating from the 1960s, and later helped develop optically stimulated luminescence as a dating method dating.^[5]

He died in June 2017 at the age of 95.^[8]

Bibliography

D. R. Brothwell; A. M. Pollard, eds. (March 2005). "Introduction". Handbook of Archaeological Sciences. Wiley. p. 782. ISBN 978-0-470-01476-9.

^ Ellis, Linda (2000). Archaeological Method and Theory: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland Publishing. p. 10. ISBN 978-0815313052.
^ "Martin Aitken: A personal recollection". Quaternary Geochronology. 48: 145. 2018. doi:10.1016/j.quageo.2018.09.004. S2CID 240138096.
^ "Jubilee Aitken - an eightieth birthday celebration" (PDF).
^ M. J. Aitken at Library of Congress, with 10 library catalogue records
^ ^a ^b ^c Aitken, Jessica (24 August 2017). "Martin Aitken obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
^ Hall, E. T.; Aitken, M. J.; Sayre, E. V. (1990). "On the Retirement of Teddy Hall and Martin Aitken". Archaeometry. 32: 3–6. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4754.1990.tb01076.x.
^ "Research Laboratory for Archaeology & the History of Art". ox.ac.uk.
^ Avis de décès (in French)