Who discovered how to correctly synthesize steroids for therapeutic use?

Answer 1

Arguably, William Summer Johnson.
http://facultysenate.stanford.edu/memorial_resolutions/Johnson_William_SenD5361.pdf

But others might say Robert Burns Woodward.
http://books.nap.edu/html/biomems/rwoodward.html

If you have access to the journal _Science_, then check out
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/294/5548/1842.pdf
Marko IE. The Art of Total Synthesis. SCIENCE 294(30):1842-3. NOVEMBER 2001