In 1945, an American engineer named Percy Spencer was working at Raytheon on military radar equipment. While standing in front of an active radar magnetron tube, he felt a strange sensation in his pocket. He reached in and discovered that his peanut butter candy bar had completely melted into a sticky mess.
Spencer was curious rather than annoyed. Instead of wiping off his pants and moving on, he decided to test what had actually happened. The next day, he brought popcorn kernels to the laboratory and placed them directly near the magnetron. Within seconds, the kernels popped and scattered all over the room.
His next experiment was with a raw egg, which rapidly heated up from the inside and exploded in his colleague's face. Spencer realized that low power microwave energy could cook food much faster than conventional ovens.
Raytheon filed a patent in October 1945 and built the first commercial microwave called the Radarange in 1947. It was massive, weighing over seven hundred pounds and standing nearly six feet tall. Decades of engineering shrunk it into the countertop appliance used in millions of kitchens today.
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Disclaimer: This video is for educational and entertainment purposes. Information is gathered from public historical sources and imagery is illustrative.
