If you looked into every home, apartment, lunchroom, or dormitory in the United States, you would find that more than two-thirds of them have at least one microwave oven. First introduced to the public in 1955 as the "radar range," the popularity of the microwave oven has skyrocketed to the point where it is considered a household necessity.

Like many products popularized during the 1950s, the microwave oven was an offshoot of technology perfected during World War II. In 1945 the Raytheon Manufacturing Company was experimenting with a magnetron (a tube that generates extremely short radio waves), trying to improve the efficiency of military radar. A technician at Raytheon, Percy Spencer, was standing very close to the magnetron as it operated. After a few minutes, Spencer noticed that a candy bar in his pocket had melted, even though he had not felt any heat. While this effect had...