Most of us have used a microwave more than once in our life, its what we use to heat foods when

theyre frozen or cold and its a musthave appliance for every home, and its something that people of all ages can easily operate. The fact that microwaves are practically in every house, rarely makes us wonder where, how, and when it was made, and most of us take it for granted. But what if the inventor who made the microwave had never been born? Heating foods would be a totally different scenario, and who knows what wed use to do it! So who is the inventor of this appliance that all of us have become so familiar with? Well the answer, is Percy Lebanon Spencer. Spencer, was born on the 9th of July 1894 in the United States and died on the 8th of September 1970, he lived till the age of 76. When Spencer was just 18 months old, his father passed away and his mother soon left him to his aunt and uncle. Spencer was raised by them up until his uncle died when he was 7 seven years old, and afterwards left Grammar school to support his aunt. At the age of 12 he was offered a job in a spoon mill where he worked till after sundown. When Spencer reached the age of 16, he began to grow interest in the term electricity although he had no formal knowledge about the subject, (not many people did in 1910) when he heard the local paper mill was being electrified, he was signed on as one of the three men hired to install the system. He learnt to do it entirely by trial and error, and that was how Percy Spencer began his rewarding career as an electrician. At some later point in his life Spencer married a woman named Louise and together they had three sons. After she passed away, he went on to marry his second wife in 1960 named Lillian. As he grew older, Spencer taught himself all the subjects he needed to know, spending countless numbers of nights working out problems in various areas of knowledge, and he soon started working with Raytheon.

A company that specialises in making weapons and military and commercial electronics. He helped work on magnetrons, and that was one of the key factors that led to the accidental discovery of the microwave. One day in a Raytheon laboratory, Spencer felt a tingling when he stood near a magnetron, and he noticed that the chocolate bar in his pocket had melted. He was not the first to take notice of this effect, but unlike many others he was the first to examine and investigate it. He quickly realized that the rays from the magnetron had caused a reaction which raised the temperature high enough to be able to heat foods quicker than conventional ovens. Spencer experimented with raw popcorn, which immediately started popping when being placed near the magnetron, and it was at that moment when he thought of the idea of a microwave, an object that heated food. To make it he built a simple metal box and positioned a magnetron in it, he tested this to see if it worked, and it did. Spencer wrote a report about his findings, and in 1945, Raytheon filed a patent for Spencers microwave, which was eventually named the Raderange and was more than about 6 feet tall. His invention was available for public use just two years later, although at that time only few could afford one. As microwave manufacturing progressed a more compact model of the Raderange was released and named Amana Raderange, which was met with a lot of positive reviews, unlike the original which received negative comments about its size and accessibility. During his lifetime, Spencer received over 300 patents for his work and also received a Distinguished Public Service Award by the U.S. Navy, he also has a building named after him at Raytheon. Nowadays, as microwaves have gotten more common in our households they have improved tremendously, and the prices have become a lot cheaper, allowing nearly everybody to have one.

Microwaves are one of the greatest inventions of all time, but theyre one of the most overlooked as well. But if we were to ask ourselves what wed do without one, itd be hard to come up with an answer because its being used by people all over the world every single day. So next time you use the microwave, be grateful to Percy Spencer for giving us something we pretty much, cant live without.