Russell Earl Marker
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'''Russell Earl Marker''' ([[March 12]], [[1902]] – [[March 23]], [[1995]]) was an eccentric [[United States|American]] [[chemist]] who invented the [[Petrol#Octane rating|octane rating]] system when he was working at the [[Ethyl Corporation]]. Later in his career he went on to found a [[steroid]] industry in [[Mexico]] when he successfully made synthetic [[progesterone]] from a Mexican [[yam (vegetable)|yam]] in a [[process]] known as [[Marker degradation]], which eventually led to the development of the [[combined oral contraceptive pill]] and a cheap, ample supply of [[cortisone]] at [[Syntex]].
==Education==
Russell Earl Marker earned a [[Bachelor of Science|B.S.]] degree in 1923 from the [[University of Maryland, College Park|University of Maryland]] and an [[M.S.]] degree in physical chemistry in 1924. He started his doctoral research with [[Morris Kharasch]] at the university. He completed his work for his thesis but needed to take some required physical chemistry courses.<ref name=acsnews>ACS News, Vol 77, No. 43, pp 78-80, 25 Oct 1999. [http://holivo.pharmacy.uiowa.edu/46131/steroids/ch1/contraceptives.html Copy], accessed 9 Feb 2007.</ref> Kharasch later officially approved Marker's thesis on [[organomercury]] and quaternary alkyl hydrocarbons, but Marker never received a Ph.D. from Maryland. <ref name=landmark>[[American Chemical Society]], National Historical Chemical Landmarks: [http://acswebcontent.acs.org/landmarks/marker/life.html The life of Russell Marker], accessed 9 Feb 2007.</ref>
<ref name=acsnews/>The university would award him an Honorary Doctor of Science in 1987.
==Career==
In 1926, he married Mildred Collins (1899-1985) and began work at the [[Ethyl Corporation]]. He came up with the concept of gasoline formulation [[octane rating]]. He also discovered that increased branching in [[hydrocarbons]] reduced [[engine knock]].
By 1928, he started research with P.A. Levene at the [[Rockefeller Institute]]. Over the next six years, Marker did enough research for 32 papers on optical rotation and molecular configurations. By 1934, Marker wanted to change his focus to steroid research. When Levene refused, Marker accepted a position funded by [[Parke-Davis]] at [[Penn State University]].
In 1936 [[Parke-Davis]] sent him a steroid extract from the urine of pregnant mares. From this, he isolated pregnanediol, which he converted by already published chemistry to 35 grams of [[progesterone]] in 1937. The batch of steroid he synthesized was the largest produced till that time. Parke-Davis provided annual funding that eventually reached $10,000. Ultimately, more than 160 papers in the steroid area were published.
In 1944, Marker cofounded [[Syntex]]. In May of 1945, Marker inquired as to the profits of the company and was told there were none. He severed all ties with Syntex, and the company was unable to make more progesterone because Marker not only had done the synthesis himself but had coded the reagent bottles and took his lab notebooks.
==Retirement==
After retirement, Marker spent time in [[Mexico City]] and [[State College, Pennsylvania]]. He became interested in three great 18th-century silversmiths and began commissioning Mexican reproductions of their works. To guarantee that each piece was correct, he spent much time in museums and other collections.
==Honors==
*Mexican Chemical Society at the VI International Symposium on the Chemistry of Natural Products in Mexico City (1969)
*Chemical Congress of North America (1975)
==References==
<references/>
[[Category:1902 births|Marker, Russell]]
[[Category:1995 deaths|Marker, Russell]]
[[Category:Syntex|Marker, Russell]]
[[Category:American chemists|Marker, Russell]]
[[Category:University of Maryland, College Park alumni|Marker, Russell]]
[[Category:People from Hagerstown, Maryland|Marker]]