When was martensite first found/discvered?

Answer This is a very interesting question. Iron has been known of and worked for approximatly 4000 years. However its useage only became recognized around 12OOBC. The reason being, was that it was extremely difficult to smelt, melt, cast or forge, simply beacuse of temperature. However, the ancient Chinese made use of a dual air blower box to elevate the iron's temperature. The source of the thermal energy was a fire made of wood and charcoal. They did not realize the fact that while the iron was being heated in the fire, it was also absorbing carbon for the wood and charcoal fire. Thus it was transforming from iron into what we know today as steel. (Steel is simply an alloy of iron plus carbon) In the country of India, the Indian blacksmiths (3500 years ago) developed a material which they called 'Woodtz' iron. (This was simply iron plus carbon)steel). This steel was used to make agricultural implements, and weapons. Steel then began to take over form the use of bronze because it could be made harder, and stronger than its bronze counter part. There is excavated evidence of articles from the ancients, that have been microscopically examined and it has been seen that martensite was present, especially in the near surface area's of the artifact. Martensite was so named after Adolph Martens who was a german engineer who made some exciting observations with a microscope at around 400 magnification. There were many other metallurgical engineers who made significant contributions to the observation of martensite and how it is formed. There are many contributions that were made by the other metallurgical engineers, and they should be recognized. However, the phase of martensite was named after Adolph Martens.