Frank G. Keenen, 1923
B.S., Denison University
M.S., The Ohio State University
Ph.D., The Ohio State University
Swarthmore, Pa.
Citation awarded on Saturday, June 3, 1967
A chemist, Dr. Frank G. Keenen’s work in plant-food research has applied the discoveries of science to agricultural processes and pioneered the nation’s fertilizer process technology.
Dr. Keenen’s work for 39 years with the DuPont Company has centered in the expansion and use of synthetic sources of protein nitrogen. In his time, he developed much of the basic technology that has brought low-cost fertilizer nitrogen to American farms, Central America’s banana cultivation, and Hawaii’s pineapple production. He invented the slow-releasing chemical combination of urea-formaldehyde and holds the basic patent on this solution and several others in commercial fertilizer technology.
