Today In History; Invention of The Conversion of Coal To Oil

1921: A system for the conversion of coal dust and hydrogen into gasoline and oil was invented on this day in 1921 by Friedrich Karl Bergius. He was able to successfully distill coal while at the same time transforming carbon from the coal into oils by forcing hydrogen under high pressure to chemically combine with the coal. Since Bergius was experiencing problems with heat distribution and temperature regulation, he also invented a method of mashing coal in the oil, then combining it with gas under high pressure. In 1931 Bergius received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for this hydrogenation method, a prize he shared with Carl Bosch.