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| A magnetron. |
Recently, the Wired blog Danger Room published a rundown of nifty gadgets developed with government funds that also changed the way we live our everyday lives. While many know that GPS and the Internet were spun from government-funded ideas, did you know that the humble kitchen appliance known as the microwave was the result of a government contract?
The microwave, it turns out, was an unhappy accident turned happy, as Danger Room explains:
Photo via.Percy Spencer, an engineer with the defense giant Raytheon, thought he was building [a] magnetron for radar sets. Suddenly he discovered his pants were a sticky mess. A Mr. Goodbar he kept in his pocket had melted from the heat emitted from his active radar set. From that embarrassing accident came a multimillion dollar industry — and one of the great twin blessings and curses of the American kitchen.
