She has earned 102 U.S. patents for her innovations in the rather esoteric fields of petroleum research and product development.
Gasoline is only one of the lighter fractions of crude oil.
Flanigen's zeolites are used as catalysts to optimize the conversion of crude oil to gasoline. Flanigen's work is admittedly complex, but it has many practical benefits. First of all, her innovations have made the production of gasoline in the U.S. and around the world greater, cleaner, and safer. However unknown she may be to the general public, Edith Flanigen is deservedly a living legend to research chemists world-wide.