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1999

Maine Turnpike
Society: ASCEMain Category: CivilSub Category: Roads & RailsEra: 1940-1949DateCreated: 1947Maine TurnpikeState: MECountry: USAWebsite: http://www.asce.org/Project/Maine-Turnpike/

Maine's heavy snows led turnpike maintenance personnel to bring "left-handed" snow plows into prominence. By using left-handed and traditional right-handed plows in tandem, they were able to distribute snow more evenly - an important advance that has been emulated by many highway maintenance crews across the country.

YearAdded:
1999
Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Doug Kerr (CC BY-SA 2.0)Image Caption: Maine TurnpikeEra_date_from: 1947
Russell Marker and the Mexican Steroid Hormone Industry
Society: ACSMain Category: ChemicalSub Category: MedicalEra: 1930-1949DateCreated: 1938–1945Pond LaboratoryUniversity ParkState: PACountry: USAWebsite: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/progesteronesynthesis.htmlCreator: Russell Marker

Steroid chemists often refer to the 1930s as the Decade of the Sex Hormones, when the molecular structures of certain sex hormones were determined and first introduced to medical practice as drugs. Russell Marker achieved the first practical synthesis of the pregnancy hormone, progesterone, by what now is known as the "Marker Degradation." Produced from starting material in a species of Mexican yam, Marker’s progesterone eventually became the preferred precursor in the industrial preparation of the anti-inflammatory drug cortisone.

YearAdded:
1999
Image Caption: Marker DegradationEra_date_from: 1938–1945
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