Synthetic motor oils were invented by German scientists in the 1930s when their country lacked access to natural petroleum deposits, forcing them to create lubricants from coal using complex chemical processes. During World War II, both German and Allied aircraft needed oils that wouldn't freeze at high altitudes or break down in supercharged engines, accelerating synthetic oil development into a military priority. After the war, NASA adopted these synthetic formulas for spacecraft and jet engines because they could handle extreme temperatures that would destroy conventional oils within minutes. Today's synthetic oils in everyday cars are direct descendants of this wartime technology, offering protection that would have seemed impossible to mechanics in the 1920s.