Born in Oakland, California, Miller earned a B.A. in Chemistry at University of California. At age 24, he earned his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago, where he worked under the Nobel prize winner Harold Urey. After earning his doctorate, Miller became a Jewett Fellow at the California Institute of Technology. He worked for five years as an instructor and later as an assistant professor in the Biochemistry Department at the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. Beginning in 1960 Miller held positions at the University of California in San Diego as an assistant professor, associate professor and professor of Chemistry.

Miller is best known for his work on spontaneous generation, or the formation of life out of non-living matter. In the nineteenth century the theory of spontaneous generation had been proven false after centuries of speculation. People had concluded that life could spontaneously and inexplicably appear after...