Honeywell Feature: 'This Chemist Has 109 Patents'

On March 25, 2019, Honeywell—the successor corporation to much of Union Carbide's chemical research legacy—published a feature article titled "This Chemist Has 109 Patents," spotlighting the remarkable career of Edith M. Flanigen. The piece celebrated her extraordinary output as an inventor, emphasizing that by this point her body of patented work had grown to 109 U.S. patents, an exceptional total for any scientist, and especially notable for a woman working through much of the twentieth century.

The article traced her career-long focus on molecular sieves and zeolites, materials that revolutionized petroleum refining, and touched on her early work synthesizing emerald-structure crystals. It served as a form of corporate recognition and public celebration of an employee whose inventions had generated enormous economic value and technological advancement for the company and the broader chemical industry.

This 2019 feature came fifteen years after her Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award and reflected sustained, ongoing interest in her legacy well into her nineties. It helped introduce her story to new audiences, including a generation of young scientists and engineers who might otherwise have been unaware of her foundational contributions.

The publication reinforced Flanigen's standing as one of the most prolific and impactful inventors in American industrial chemistry history, male or female, and highlighted the continuing relevance of her innovations to modern manufacturing and energy processes.