Margules began his career in research in 1877, when he joined the Central Institute of Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) in Vienna as a volunteer.

Later, administration offered this teaching job to someone else after he refused to convert from Judaism to acquire the position, which ended his academic career.

He dedicated his retirement to a new found interest in chemistry research, completely abandoning his meteorological studies.

His small pension and the devaluation of the currency due to World War I led to a life in poverty.

[2] Margules' accomplishments are seen as the theoretical pillars of meteorology and he left a lasting legacy on the field of thermodynamics in his name-sake equations.