Special Guest Blogger: Percy Spencer

I was a physicist, electrical engineer and inventor and if you have ever nuked a Pot Noodle or used your microwave to warm up some leftovers, you have a comedy of errors to thank for the convenience.
The microwave came down to an accident involving an experiment with some radar equipment, and a chocolaty peanut chocolate bar.
I had an affinity for electrical systems and continued to expand my knowledge of them when I joined the Navy and then onto Raytheon who had the contract to find a use for all the radar equipment we had left over from World War 2 and one such piece of equipment was the compact cavity magnetron, a high-powered vacuum tube that generates microwaves.
I stood too close to one whilst having a bar of chocolate in my pocket one afternoon but rather than be disappointed to realise my afternoon snack melted, I went and got some unpopped popcorn and placed that in front of the magnetron, and realised that microwaves could cook food.
I showed it to my bosses and we filed for a patent on the technology and Raytheon began manufacturing what we called 'Radarange' mostly to restaurants but it never really caught on as it was six-feet tall and weighed 750 pounds and who would want one of those ugly things in their kitchen so we scaled it down to household size and started selling the countertop microwave oven in 1967.
Another hurdle to consumer adoption was the fear of radiation but after the Bureau of Radiological Health began a thorough testing process to ensure microwaves didn’t emit dangerous levels of radiation they really took off and all because  of a happy accident and the fact i hadn't shoved an apple in my pocket on that day.