Martin Blank earned PhDs in physical chemistry (1957) from Columbia University and in colloid science (1960) from University of Cambridge. He came to Columbia in 1959, retired as Associate Professor in 2011 and is now a Special Lecturer. His research has been on membranes, transport processes, excitation, and recently on health effects of electromagnetic radiation (EMR).
During his tenure, he had short-term appointments at 11 universities around the world, as well as at five industrial research labs and the US Office of Naval Research. He also organized many meetings, including two World Congresses on Electricity and Magnetism in Biology and Medicine, 4 Erice (Italy) Courses on Bioelectrochemistry, and he started the Gordon Research Conferences on Bioelectrochemistry.