Materials · 1909

Synthetic rubber

Rubber made from petrochemicals instead of trees.

Fritz Hofmann at Bayer patented methyl rubber in 1909, and Buna and SBR followed. Synthetic rubber now makes up more than half of world rubber.

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 1

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

Private cars in the UK Latest: 22M cars (1998) Source: Our World in Data