Percy Lebaron Spencer · 7 January 07
Shortly after the end of World War II, Percy Spencer, already known as an electronics genius and war hero, was touring the Raytheon Company where he stopped momentarily in front of a magnetron, (the power tube that drives a radar set). Feeling a strange sensation, Spencer noticed that the chocolate bar in his pocket had begun to melt.
Following this realization, Spencer (who obtained 120 patents in his lifetime) did what any good inventor would – he brought in some popcorn. Holding the bag of corn next to the magnetron, Spencer watched as the kernels exploded into puffy white morsels.
In October 1945 Raytheon filed a patent for Spencer’s microwave cooking process and in 1947, the company built the first microwave oven, the Radarange. It weighed a hefty 750 lbs and stood 5’ 6” tall.
Culinary experts quickly noticed the oven’s shortcomings – meat refused to brown and french fries turned white and limp. It took decades for the microwave oven to be refined to a point where it was useful to the average consumer. Today, Percy Spencer’s radar boxes melt chocolate and pop popcorn in millions of homes around the world… pass the pizza pops!
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