Silicon Valley may be the acknowledged birthplace of high-tech, but the microwave oven—arguably one of most useful products ever created—was developed in Waltham, Mass. It put Percy Spencer in the history books, although this master of the magnetron would’ve wound up there anyway with more than 150 patents to his credit.
Unfortunately, it’s the magnetron that has kept the microwave oven from becoming more than a way to make popcorn, defrost prepackaged foods, and reheat coffee. Fortunately, nearly three quarters of a century after Raytheon filed a patent covering Spencer’s invention (for which he received the company’s customary $2), the microwave oven is finally getting a thorough 21st Century overhaul.