The story of radar and microwave ovens is a testament to the interconnectedness of science. Think of what went into them: physics, electrical engineering, materials science, chemistry, and good old serendipitous invention. Calculus played an important part too. It provided the language for describing waves and the tools for analyzing them. The discovery of the wave equation, which started as an outgrowth of music in connection with vibrating strings, was ultimately used by Maxwell to predict the existence of electromagnetic waves. From there it was a short hop to vacuum tubes, transistors,
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