Professor C.B. Martin

As an undergraduate student of Professor C.B. Martin [Obituary, 3 December] at Adelaide University from 1958, I can vouch for the potency of his teaching, writes Bruce J. Reid. Charlie's lecturing was charismatic, though he would not have approved of the religious overtones of the word.

He would stroll from one side to the other of the packed lecture theatre, stroking his beard, in deep, noteless dialogue with himself on complex epistemological difficulties, holding us spellbound with the feeling that we were witnessing philosophical discovery on the spot. He also excelled at communicating the conviction that addressing the great questions of life really mattered; he was a life-changing influence on me and many of my contemporaries.