Edith M. Flanigen

"Inventor" of precious stones

We are used to stopping at a gas station to fill the petrol-tank of our car. Gasoline is like food for vehicles to have energy and carry us around.

But after crude petroleum oil is extracted from large underground deposits, it has to undergo a chemical process to refine it before reaching the gas station.

One of the concerns of the American chemist Edith Marie Flanigen was to obtain efficient, clean and safe gasoline. She was known for her work on the synthesis of emeralds, a precious stone of great value. Later she synthesized zeolites, stones that look like sponges, full of pores, which are used to “clean petroleum”.