A Self-Taught Grammar School Dropout Invented the Microwave Oven at Raytheon — He Was Paid $2 for the Patent

A Self-Taught Grammar School Dropout Invented the Microwave Oven at Raytheon — He Was Paid $2 for the Patent

Percy Spencer invented the microwave oven at Raytheon after a chocolate bar in his pocket melted near an active radar magnetron in 1945. Spencer was a self-taught engineer. He had dropped out of grammar school. Spencer became one of America’s foremost experts on radar magnetrons during World War II. Raytheon filed a patent for the microwave oven technology in October 1945. Raytheon’s first commercial microwave oven was the Radarange. The Radaran…