COLLEGE STATION, TX — A Texas A&M alumna will be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Twenty-two innovation pioneers were announced as the National Inventors Hall of Fame 2020 class of Inductees.
Texas A&M alumna and inventor of 1-MCP, Sylvia Blankenship, is being inducted with her posthumous co-inventor Edward Sisler.
Blankenship and Sisler invented 1-MCP, a compound that has become essential in preventing food waste, and increasing accessibility to fresh fruits, vegetables and cut flowers.
Contributing to large reductions in food waste, and year-round access to fresh fruit, 1-MCP is best known for its use with apple crops under the trade name SmartFresh™.
SmartFresh is used on more than 30 crops, including 50 to 70% of the apples harvested in the United States.
Blankenship earned her bachelor of science and master of science degrees in horticulture science at Texas A&M University,
The innovators will be honored at NIHF's Induction Ceremony in Washington D.C. on May 6-7.
