MEET "MR. PATENT": Marvin Johnson can't seem to stop innovating. The plainspoken scientist from Phillips Petroleum has 212 patents to his name. Johnson, a 74-year-old research fellow with Phillips Petroleum, stopped keeping track of his patents a long time ago. That's because he has 212 of them to his name, with at least 8 more on the way.

Do the math: a 46-year career and 220 patents either issued or pending. That's more than one patent every three months for more than four decades. How does Johnson evaluate his remarkable performance? He starts with a wisecrack: "It's the same in patents as it is in having a baby. Conception is the best part of it."