He was born on March 12, 1902, in
Hagerstown, Maryland. He received his
B.S. in 1923 from the
University of Maryland and an
M.S. in
physical chemistry in 1924 from the same institution. In 1926, he married Mildred Collins (1899–1985) and worked as an
analytical chemist at the
Naval Powder Factory in
Indian Head, Maryland. He then began work at the
Ethyl Corporation where he came up with the concept of the
octane rating. In 1938, he proposed a new molecular structure for
sarsasapogenin where the side chain was chemically reactive due to the two oxygen atoms connected to the same carbon. The newly found reactivity of the side chain can be used to remove most of the atoms in the side chain. After most of the atoms are removed from the side chain, a steroid ring is left. After a few chemical modifications, a steroid ring can lead to the creation of
progesterone. This was the first practical synthesis of progesterone. It was also a precursor in the preparation of
cortisone. When Marker found that there was a similar structure to sarsasapogenin in Beth Roots, a member of the
lily family, he began his work to develop
the Marker degradation. In March 1944 he formed
Syntex. He left the company in May 1945 to found
Botanica-Mex. In 1949 he left Botanica-Mex. He died on March 3, 1995 in Wernersville, Pennsylvania after breaking his hip in a fall. ==Marker degradation==