5 Inventions That Were Rejected By Everyone Before Changing The World

The Microwave Oven Was an Accident Nobody Asked For

In 1945, Percy Spencer, an engineer working with radar equipment, noticed something strange while standing near a magnetron. A chocolate bar in his pocket had melted. Spencer investigated. He placed popcorn near the device and watched it pop. Then he experimented with other products.

The result was the microwave oven.

The first commercial machines were enormous, expensive and impractical for ordinary kitchens. They cost thousands of dollars in an era when a new car could cost less than $2,000. There was little reason for most households to buy one.

But the technology improved. Microwaves became smaller, cheaper and easier to use. By the late twentieth century, they were ordinary kitchen appliances.