Woman of the Week - Edith Marie Flanigen

Edith Marie Flanigen began her career in chemistry in the early 1950s, at a time when few women were working in the field. A native of Buffalo, New York, Flanigen earned a Bachelor's Degree in chemistry (magna cum laude) from Buffalo's D'Youville College in 1950. She then earned a Master's Degree in inorganic-physical chemistry from Syracuse University in 1952.

Edith Flanigen is the holder of 108 U.S. patents and is one of the most inventive chemists of all time. She had a 42-year career at Union Carbide, where she invented or co-invented over 200 novel synthetic materials. Flanigen credits a high school teacher for sparking her interest in chemistry. "She really made it (chemistry) exciting," comments Flanigen. "We did hands-on laboratory work … and I think I fell in love with … chemistry at that time." This same teacher — a nun —also inspired Flanigen's two sisters, who were chemists at Union Carbide.

In 1956, Edith Flanigen began to work on the emerging technology of "molecular sieves," crystalline structures that contain molecule-sized pores. With their tiny pore sizes, these compounds can be used to filter and break down crude oil during the refining process. Flanigen's substantial contributions to the product development of zeolite Y, an aluminosilicate sieve, made oil-refining more efficient, cleaner and safer. Her work with molecular sieves also led to innovative applications in water purification and environmental cleanup. Additionally, Edith Marie Flanigen invented a hydrothermal emerald synthesis process, and pioneered the use of mid-infrared spectroscopy for analyzing zeolite structures. Edith Flanigen's more recent work on alumino-phosphates has applications for lubricating oils.

Edith Flanigen became the first woman corporate research fellow at Union Carbide in 1973, and senior research fellow in 1982. In 1988, she became part of UOP, a joint venture of Union Carbide and Allied Signal, and remained there until her retirement in 1994. Flanigen was the first woman to win the Perkin Medal (1992) and is the recipient of the Francis P. Garvan-John M. Olin Medal of the American Chemical Society (1993), as well as many other awards and honors. In 2004, she was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame and also won the $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award for her groundbreaking achievements in zeolite and molecular sieve technology.

Recently, Edith Marie Flanigen joined other inventors and educators from across the country to brainstorm ideas for a new math and science school that will be built inside the National Inventors Hall of Fame. The school is expected to open in the fall or winter of 2008.

Resources:

https://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blflanigen.htm

https://web.mit.edu/invent/a-winners/a-flanigen.html