Chocolate Bars and Microwaves

Sometimes, the path to the extraordinary begins with the most ordinary of things. In Percy Spencer's world, it began with chocolate.

Raytheon's laboratory buzzed with the electric energy of innovation. It was 1945, and the cutting-edge technology of the day was radar, having just helped the Allies win World War II. Raytheon was working on something for radars called a magnetron, a vacuum tube that generated high frequency electromagnetic radiation.

Amidst the clatter and hum of machines, a grade-school-educated engineer named Percy L. Spencer was immersed in this work. Wires tangled around him, and the faint aroma of soldering filled the air. In his pocket, a chocolate bar lay forgotten, a mundane snack for a laborious day.

But as Percy moved closer to a running magnetron tube, something magical began to unfold. Unbeknownst to him, the once-solid chocolate bar started to soften, then melt, transforming into a gooey mess. It was a tiny, seemingly inconsequential event, but one that would …