Ludwig Märker was considered by his contemporaries to be one of the leading microscope manufacturers of his era in Vienna, Austria, along with Karl Reichert.

Little is known about Merker's personal life. He is reported to have been born in Hanover, Saxony (Germany) in 1856. He trained at an optical manufacturing facility in Wetzlar, Hesse, Germany, before moving to Vienna to work for Reichert.

In 1886, Merker and another Reichert employee, Fritz Ebeling, left the company to start their own microscope business. The general business broke up in 1892–1893, and each of them established their own optical business. Ebeling kept the store in Hernalser-Gürtel, and Merker moved about 1 km away, on Buchfeldgasse. Shortly after the start of the twentieth century, Merker moved to Csermakgasse.