Aha Moment Maker: Kernels of Curiosity
LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS, 1945—Shortly after the end of WWII, Percy Spencer was touring the labs at Raytheon, where he worked. During the war, the Allies had charged the company with mass producing magnetrons, the tubes that powered radar systems. Percy had been instrumental in solving critical efficiency and production issues, so when he spotted one of his achievements in the lab, he naturally stopped to admire it.
We don’t know whether he got a warm feeling inside while inspecting the magnetron, but we do know that he got a warm feeling inside his pocket, and soon discovered that a chocolate bar he had been saving there was melting.
Ever the curious mind, Percy immediately sent for, of all things, a bag of popcorn kernels. Holding it up to the magnetron, he discovered that they all popped in a matter of minutes.
From this simple experiment Spencer and Raytheon went on to...
