Brian Martin (social scientist)

Brian Martin
Born	1947 Gary, Indiana, USA
Education	Rice University, (BA in Physics); University of Sydney (PhD)
Occupation	Social scientist at University of Wollongong (social study of dissent, peace studies); formerly mathematician at Australian National University
Years active	1973–present
Employer	University of Wollongong

Brian Martin (born 1947) is a social scientist at the Faculty of Arts School of Humanities and Social Inquiry at the University of Wollongong in NSW, Australia. He became a professor there in 2007. His interest is in the research of the suppression of dissent. According to the BBC, he has studied whistleblowing in science; he was president of Whistleblowers Australia from 1996 to 1999 and remains their International Director. He is also a former member of the anti-vaccine Australian Vaccination Network as well as the pro-vaccine Skeptics Society.

Martin has spoken at a British Science Association Festival of Science, and testified at the Australian Federal Senate's Inquiry into Academic Freedom. The crustacean Polycheles martini was named after him.

Martin's original academic field was stratospheric modelling and numerical methods. He has published extensively about the social dynamics and politicisation of controversial scientific topics. His topics of inquiry have included the globalization of polarised science such as the origin of HIV/AIDS, fluoridation and nuclear power. He argues that there are situations in which scientific research that threatens vested interests can be suppressed. He identifies a number of direct and indirect mechanisms through which this can occur, ranging from the denial of funds and the denial of promotion and tenure, through to the creation of a "general climate of fear".

Martin has been criticised for being a supporter of the now debunked theory of OPV-AIDS. The hypothesis was first popularised in Rolling Stone magazine by way of journalist Curtis and AIDS activist Elswood in 1992, and was later further promoted by the journalist/writer Hooper and Martin, with Hooper crediting Martin for giving the OPV-AIDS link hypothesis "further publicity and credibility". Martin disputes the claim that he has been a supporter of the hypothesis, instead saying that he has "never argued in favour of the OPV theory", but has instead stated "that it was and remains worthy of consideration yet in many ways has been unfairly dismissed". In 2010, Martin published a paper in which he argued that "medical researchers had colluded to silence" the discredited OPV-AIDS hypothesis, and has said that although the peer-review process for the theory was almost "entirely negative", there can be situations where justice appears to be provided by the official processes, but "in many cases there is little corresponding substance".

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