Herman Francis Mark

Herman Francis Mark (May 3, 1895, Vienna – April 6, 1992, Austin, Texas) was an Austrian-American chemist regarded for his contributions to the development of polymer science. Mark's x-ray diffraction work on the molecular structure of fibers provided important evidence for the macromolecular theory of polymer structure. Together with Houwink he formulated an equation, now called the Mark–Houwink or Mark–Houwink–Sakurada equation, describing the dependence of the intrinsic viscosity of a polymer on its relative molecular mass (molecular weight). He was a long-time faculty at Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn.

Herman Francis Mark was born in Vienna in 1895, the son of Herman Carl Mark, a physician, and Lili Mueller. Mark's father was a Jew who converted to Christianity (Lutheran Church) upon marriage.

Several early stimuli apparently steered Herman Mark to science. He was greatly influenced by a teacher, Franz Hlawaty, who made mathematics and physics understandable. At the age of twelve, he and his friend toured the laboratories of the University of Vienna. His friend's father, who taught science, arranged the tour. The visit excited both boys and before long they turned their bedrooms into laboratories. Both had access to chemicals through their fathers, and they were soon performing experiments.

Herman Francis Mark served as an Officer in the elite k.k. Kaiserschützen Regiment Nr. II of the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I. He was highly decorated and the Austrian hero of the alpine Battle of Mount Ortigara in June 1917.

Mark worked on X-ray diffraction. Linus Pauling learned X-ray diffraction from Mark, and that knowledge led to Pauling's seminal work on the structure of proteins.

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