Martin Fackler

Dr. Martin L. Fackler is a retired Colonel in the US Army's Medical Corps, he was a battlefield surgeon, and the head of the Wound Ballistics Laboratory for the US Army’s Medical Training Center, Letterman Institute.

He is credited with a number of contributions to the field of terminal ballistics including:
 * Developing and testing improved media in which the effects of bullet wounds could be simulated. This led to the widespread acceptance of 10% ballistic gelatin for evaluating penetration and expansion of projectiles.
 * Establishing effects of projectile design and shape on wounding.
 * He hypothesized that wound depth was much more important than previously thought, and recommended ammunition that could send a bullet at least twelve inches into his ballistic gelatin.
 * He was the first researcher to demonstrate that fragmentation was the most effective means of inflicting wounds in a modern military rifle round. He asserted that yawing and cavitation do not typically cause severe tissue trauma. Or, that the "permanent wound cavity" or actual damage caused by a projectile is the primary "stopping power" mechanism and that the "temporary wound cavity" or shock wave produced by the projectile is at best a secondary mechanism, if not irrelevant.