Accidental Inventions of the 20th Century, Part One: Penicillin, X-Rays and the Microwave Oven

Summary

Ridiculous History: Episode Summary

Title: Accidental Inventions of the 20th Century, Part One: Penicillin, X-Rays and the Microwave Oven
Host: Ben Bullen and Noel Brown
Release Date: May 13, 2025
Produced by: iHeartPodcasts

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Introduction to Accidental Inventions

Ben Bullen and Noel Brown kick off the episode by delving into the fascinating world of accidental inventions. They emphasize that many groundbreaking discoveries arise from unexpected events rather than meticulous planning. This theme sets the stage for exploring how serendipitous moments have shaped modern technology and medicine.

Penicillin: The Accidental Lifesaver

The hosts begin by exploring the discovery of penicillin, arguably one of the most significant accidental inventions of the 20th century.

• Alexander Fleming’s Discovery:
  Ben narrates the story of Sir Alexander Fleming, a Scottish researcher who, in 1928, inadvertently discovered penicillin. Fleming left a petri dish containing Staphylococcus bacteria unattended, leading to mold contamination. Upon his return, he observed that the mold (Penicillium notatum) had killed the surrounding bacteria.
  Ben Bullen (12:00): "He discovered that the staphylococcus had developed a layer of mold which had prevented it from growing any further."

• Development and Impact:
  While Fleming identified penicillin, it was his colleagues, Frederick Ridley and Ernst Chain, who worked diligently to purify and mass-produce the antibiotic. Their efforts turned penicillin from a laboratory curiosity into a life-saving drug, especially pivotal during World War II. The team’s work culminated in penicillin saving millions of lives, showcasing the profound impact of accidental discoveries.
  Noel Brown (16:17): "He was able to turn this from a kind of a laboratory curiosity into a life-saving drug."

Microwave Oven: Percy Spencer’s Snack-Time Revelation

Next, the episode transitions to the invention of the microwave oven, credited to Percy Spencer.

• The Melting Chocolate Bar Incident:
  Spencer, an engineer, was experimenting with radar technology when he noticed that a chocolate bar in his pocket had melted while standing near a magnetron. This observation sparked his curiosity about the potential of microwaves in cooking.
  Noel Brown (31:34): "He noticed that the microwaves might actually have potential for cooking food."

• Prototype Development:
  Driven by his curiosity, Spencer conducted experiments using popcorn kernels and an egg, leading to the first microwave prototype. Although the egg exploded, this trial-and-error approach was crucial in refining microwave technology.
  Ben Bullen (32:16): "He takes a kettle and cuts a hole in the side... The egg explodes. Great."

• Commercialization and Legacy:
  Spencer's persistence led to the first patent for the microwave oven in 1945. Despite initial challenges in stabilization and mass production, the microwave became a staple in kitchens worldwide, revolutionizing food preparation.
  Noel Brown (35:09): "He is a self-taught engineer... filed the first patent for the microwave oven in 1945."

X-Rays: Wilhelm Röntgen’s Radiant Surprise

The episode then explores the discovery of X-rays by Wilhelm Röntgen, another monumental accidental invention.

• Unexpected Discovery:
  In 1895, Röntgen was experimenting with cathode rays when he noticed an unknown form of light passing through heavy black paper, casting shadows of objects placed between the tube and a fluorescent screen. This phenomenon led him to discover X-rays, a form of electromagnetic radiation invisible to the naked eye.
  Ben Bullen (44:09): "He was surprised when an incandescent green light escaped and was projected on a nearby fluorescent screen."

• Medical Revolution:
  Recognizing the potential of X-rays, Röntgen applied them to medical diagnostics, allowing doctors to see inside the human body without invasive surgery. This breakthrough transformed medical imaging, aiding in the diagnosis of fractures, tumors, and other internal conditions.
  Ben Bullen (46:21): "He calls them X-rays because he doesn't know what the rays are."

• Safety and Evolution:
  While X-rays revolutionized medicine, it was later understood that excessive exposure could cause harmful effects, such as cancer. Modern practices now incorporate safety measures like lead vests to protect patients during X-ray imaging.
  Noel Brown (47:25): "Too much exposure to X-rays can have deleterious effects on a human body."

The Ripple Effect of Accidental Inventions

Ben and Noel discuss the broader implications of accidental inventions, highlighting how these discoveries often build upon previous knowledge and set the stage for further innovations.

• Curiosity-Driven Discoveries:
  The hosts emphasize that curiosity and the willingness to explore unexpected results are essential catalysts for invention. They liken this process to the classic scenario of searching for something and stumbling upon something entirely different but equally valuable.
  Ben Bullen (05:10): "Discovery and invention. And that's one of the things that humans are great at. Not so much planning ahead, but more so curiosity."

• Building on Foundations:
  Accidental inventions stand on the shoulders of prior discoveries, benefiting from the groundwork laid by earlier scientists and inventors. This cumulative progress underscores the interconnectedness of scientific advancements.
  Noel Brown (08:44): "It's about recognizing the discovery first and foremost."

Conclusion and Teasers for Future Episodes

The episode concludes by reflecting on the significance of these accidental inventions and their lasting impact on society. Ben and Noel express anticipation for future discussions on more unintended breakthroughs, hinting at stories like the invention of bread and upcoming episodes on Tupperware and other innovations.

• Looking Ahead:
  Ben Bullen (50:12): "We'll see you next time, folks. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio."

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Ben Bullen (12:00): "He discovered that the staphylococcus had developed a layer of mold which had prevented it from growing any further."
• Noel Brown (16:17): "He was able to turn this from a kind of a laboratory curiosity into a life-saving drug."
• Noel Brown (31:34): "He noticed that the microwaves might actually have potential for cooking food."
• Ben Bullen (32:16): "He takes a kettle and cuts a hole in the side... The egg explodes. Great."
• Ben Bullen (44:09): "He was surprised when an incandescent green light escaped and was projected on a nearby fluorescent screen."
• Ben Bullen (46:21): "He calls them X-rays because he doesn't know what the rays are."
• Ben Bullen (05:10): "Discovery and invention. And that's one of the things that humans are great at. Not so much planning ahead, but more so curiosity."
• Noel Brown (08:44): "It's about recognizing the discovery first and foremost."

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This episode of Ridiculous History masterfully illustrates how some of the most pivotal inventions emerged from moments of chance and curiosity. By focusing on penicillin, the microwave oven, and X-rays, Ben Bullen and Noel Brown offer listeners a compelling narrative of unintended discoveries that have profoundly influenced modern life.

If you enjoyed this episode, stay tuned for Part Two, where they will continue exploring more accidental inventions that have left an indelible mark on history.

Transcript

[Ben Bullen]

Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to the show, fellow ridiculous historians. Thank you as always so much for tuning. This is an accidental invention called a podcast. And we couldn't do it without the help of our super producer, Mr. Max Williams.

[Noel Brown]

There was that time that scientists spilled chemical X and then a podcast sprang forth fully formed.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah. Or that time I got bit by a radioactive microphone and then ended up doing this as a living.

[Noel Brown]

Hey, man, there are worse ways to make a living and worse radioactive things to get bitten by. Accidental inventions. Intentional two parter.

[Ben Bullen]

Mm, yes. Well done.

[Mr. Max Williams]

I will say, I don't know if you guys have heard this, but it was an accidental chemical spill that caused Ira Glass to be like, formed.

[Noel Brown]

Okay. I don't doubt it.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah, I've read Liquid Glass. I've read his biography. And who is reading that biography? Well, they call me Ben Bullen. That's none other than Mr. Noel Brown. And as you might tell, with our incredibly subtle foreshadowing this this week we are dedicating some time to the wonder, wacky, inspiring, dare we say, at times terrifying world of invention. Humans aren't the only living creatures that can quote, unquote, invent things, but so far, humans have the best track record.

[Noel Brown]

Well, I mean, we always talk about on this show and on our sister show, stuff they don't want yout know about this idea of firsts of like, who was the first person that figured out you could get high on this weird herb or that figured that this slimy, disgusting, shelled thing from the water could be sucked down. It's called an oyster. You know, I mean, it's fascinating how.

[Ben Bullen]

Many people died discovering edible mushrooms, right?

[Noel Brown]

Absolutely.

[Ben Bullen]

What's the old joke? This one will make you see God for a week. This one will kill you. And this one just goes great in pasta.

[Noel Brown]

One of them makes you see God real quick and then the other one, you know, more like visions. And definitely mushrooms and pasta. One of my favorite things in the whole wide culinary world.

[Ben Bullen]

I guess those are maybe technically more discoveries.

[Noel Brown]

It's true. And that is a very important point to bring up. And we do have an episode on inventors that were killed by their own invention.

[Ben Bullen]

Yes.

[Noel Brown]

But I think we can't argue that discovery is the seed of invention. Huh? How about that?

[Ben Bullen]

There we go. Because often when looking for one thing, you find the other thing. That's classic human, right? You lose your car keys. You're searching for your car keys and all of a sudden you find the journal you wrote in middle school. Or you. Let's say you are an alchemist and you want to transm metal to gold and you accidentally invent pesticides.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, I was going to say. I thought you were going to say something like you lose your car keys and all of a sudden, bam, you invent the atomic bomb.

[Ben Bullen]

That's how it happened. Everybody watch Oppenheimer.

[Noel Brown]

It's totally how it went down. The guy was a little bit. He'd be the kind of dude that would lose his car keys.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah, he would. Not only.

[Noel Brown]

He was preoccupied.

[Ben Bullen]

Not only the kind of dude who would lose his car keys, but he would get furious at his assistant for not fixing the situation.

[Noel Brown]

Look, still can't get over that nude scene in that movie. Felt.

[Ben Bullen]

Felt really, really weird to me.

[Noel Brown]

I don't know why.

[Ben Bullen]

Did feel like an excuse to.

[Mr. Max Williams]

For the one where they're sitting in the chairs correctly. That was where the. The sex scene from earlier is like not as much the. In the chairs one. It was that.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, it was a choice, but for sure it was a choice.

[Mr. Max Williams]

It was amazing actor. He's in one scene and he steals the entire show.

[Ben Bullen]

It was one of those things where it's pretty clear that the director, the screenwriter or the cinematographer said, I can get away with this.

[Noel Brown]

Hey, her contract gives us two nude scenes, so we can't live that second one on the table.

[Ben Bullen]

And so, film and fiction aside, what we can tell you as a thesis statement for this week is that invention is often a macrocosmic historical example of what Bob Ross would call a happy accident. You put the paint in the wrong place and boom. You have created a beautiful tree or a mountainscape or a cumulus cloud.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, or a Jesus in your toast.

[Ben Bullen]

Whatever. Right, right, right. Always waiting to be discovered. Bread has done a lot for religion. Actually, now that I think about that, that's a pretty deep and accurate statement.

[Noel Brown]

You're absolutely right, Ben. I'm with you. It's true. And I mean, what do they say, Necessity is the mother of invention and all that. But I would argue that discovery, which can often be acc. Accidental, is the seed of invention.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah. And I would argue that curiosity is the impetus behind discovery. Yeah, Discovery and invention. And that's one of the things that humans are great at. Not so much planning ahead, but more so curiosity. Right. Ted Lasso is correct in that respect. Can't recommend that show well enough. We want to start this with a shout out to our research associate, Jeff, who points out, quoting our alma matter, how stuff works, that not every wonderful world changing invention was created intentionally.

[Noel Brown]

You're listening to an iHeart podcast.

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[Ben Bullen]

Some came, as you said, Noel, through accidental discovery. Some came through straight up like Three Stooges level clumsiness. Some came out of laziness. What we do know is that almost every invention stands on the shoulders of giants of precedent, Right? A spontaneous discovery is an amazing pivotal moment in history. But often the credit where it's due needs to be assigned to the people who learned of a discovery and then spent years, decades, perhaps their entire lives trying to make it applicable. And a benefit to the rest of civilization.

[Noel Brown]

Well, it's about recognizing the discovery first and foremost. And I think this is a great follow up to the episode we just did on Tupperware, which we'll recall was invented based on a byproduct, a stinky, icky byproduct of plastic manufacturing that nobody else in the industry knew what to do with. But Mr. Tupper, he had big ideas around it and he started a revolution of leftover storage.

[Ben Bullen]

Please do check out that story. Especially because we all have Tupperware in our fridges right now.

[Noel Brown]

Pretty much some of them need to be, need to be examined. I think I need to do a refresh.

[Ben Bullen]

And going back to our idea of bread, let's pop the top on one of history's greatest accidental inventions discoveries. Now we're going to treat those as kissing cousins, right? If not synonymous. They're a Venn diagram. We are alive today, all of us, including you ridiculous historian listening to the show. We are alive today because of something called antibiotics. Now at the top, this feels like a really gross idea.

[Noel Brown]

It sure does. Especially when you consider how it was discovered and where it comes from. According to, I believe the American Chemistry Society at their website acs.org Antibiotics are compounds produced by bacteria and fungi which are capable of killing or inhibiting competing microbial species. This phenomenon has long been known. It may explain why the ancient Egyptians had the practice of applying a poultice of moldy bread to infected wounds.

[Ben Bullen]

I don't like, you know, I'm familiar with pulte.

[Noel Brown]

Mouthfeel.

[Ben Bullen]

It's. Have you ever used one? It may be like my old Appalachian.

[Noel Brown]

Background, isn't it where you literally shove dirt and stuff like into your wound or like grass or a mixture of like really gooey herbs and stuff.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah, like a sloppy kind of wet or moisture.

[Noel Brown]

It's a slather. Yeah.

[Ben Bullen]

This is the story of antibiotics and penicillin. The world's first acknowledged antibiotic was less the. It was less a matter of some mad genius secreted away in a tower learning the art of alchemy. It was more an accidental byproduct. Shout out Tupperware of a messy workstation.

[Noel Brown]

Right. How stuff works again. Our Alma Potter writes. One of the most widely used antibiotics, penicillin, was first developed by Scottish research Sir Alexander Fleming in 1928. The careless type. Fleming departed for a two week vacation having left out a petri dish containing staphylococcus, if I'm not mistaken, is the bacteria that forms or that is responsible for what they call a staph infection, right? I think that's right. Anywho, continuing upon returning, Fleming discovered that the staphylococcus had developed a layer of mold which had prevented it from growing any further. So see, it's the accidental discovery, the icky workplace, and then the like. What does this mean? And the recognition of how this could be applied.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah, yeah. What he stumbled across is something we call penicillium. Let's get into it. Yeah. So our guy, our Scottish guy again, standing on the shoulders of giants, various ancient civilizations, had sort of a spidey sense about the. The hidden benefits of mold. So Fleming starts to do the work and he sorts through his messy counter peachtree dishes. They all have staphylococcus. Staphylococcus. Nasty customer. It can give you a sore throat, boils, abscesses, all the hits. And then like you were saying, he looks at one dish, one dish out of his collection, and he says, hang on. This is dotted with these colonies of this nasty customer. I know to be staphylococcus, but there's one area that's untouched by anything except for this blob of gross, fuzzy looking mold.

[Noel Brown]

Uh huh, exactly. Untouched. Fleming figured out that this mold juice was capable of killing a wide range of very harmful bacteria that were pesky and tough customers. To your point, Ben, for the human race, things like streptococcus, meningococcus and diphtheria bacillus bacterium that up to this point could have been fatal for folks.

[Ben Bullen]

Right, right. Fatal on the far end. At the very least, severely inconvenient and unpleasant. What? This was later identified as this mold. And let me just take a second and say mold and fungi. They're amazing. They're amazing.

[Noel Brown]

We've talked on stuff that I want you to know about. How the way they communicate in networks, neural networks, underground. There's an incredible documentary called Fantastic Fungi that we've recommended as well a bunch. What's that guy? Paul Steinmetz, I think is his name is a mycologist, I think is the term. Fascinating topic. Sorry, Ben. I'm excited about it.

[Ben Bullen]

Oh no, I'm into it too.

[Mr. Max Williams]

I get to jump in here really quick. Paul Stamets. Which is a joke because in the now finished Star Trek Discovery series where they travel over fungus. It's complicated. I'm not gonna explain too much. The name of the guy who invents it is Stamets. That's the name of the engineer who invents it.

[Noel Brown]

So there you go. Yeah, that's just A nod. Very cool.

[Ben Bullen]

Good idea.

[Mr. Max Williams]

I told my friend Meredith that one recently. It blew her mind. She goes, what? That's a real guy? I'm like, yeah, he's alive and alive and well. He's, he's the expert on mushrooms.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah, he's about 85% mold now by content, but that's just, you know, like Marie Curie. That's just something that comes with the job of being a luminary. If we go back to our, our noble Scott Fleming, we find that he, you know, he's smart enough to clock something unusual. And he's got two assistants, Frederick Ridley and Stuart Craddock. And he says, all right, you guys, you're real up and comers here in this super messy hoarder lab. I need you to take this mold juice and I need you to isolate whatever the heck it is that is killing these pesky bacteria. And they said, okay, we're gonna do our best, Fleming. And they were able to create something, but it was very unstable because they were trying to purify something for the first time. They were only to make solutions of very crude material. And that comes to us again from the American Chemical Society. So Fleming has the honor of naming this mold juice, and he calls it penicillin because he's naming it after that fungus we mentioned earlier, Penicillium notatum.

[Noel Brown]

Right. And he publishes a paper about this in 1929, but he wasn't really sure yet he knew what it could do, but I guess maybe I was giving him a little too much credit. He wasn't quite sure yet if it had any practical use because it, it was a bit difficult to purify and to stabilize and to mass produce in a way that would potentially have a huge impact on humanity.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah, it's kind of like inventing a rocket that can sometimes go to space, but not all the time. Do you really want to put people on the rocket just yet?

[Noel Brown]

No, definitely not Katy Perry. It was Howard Flory and his teamwork making the dream work. And Ernst Chain and their colleagues at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology at Oxford University. No slouches there, who figured out how to turn penicillin from this kind of haphazard discovery. And again, all credit to Fleming. He did see there were potentially big things ahead. He just, I guess, didn't stop short. Right. He didn't quite know what to do with it. So he was able to turn this from a kind of a. Was [e-mail] as a laboratory curiosity into a life saving drug. In Their efforts to purify and fine tune the chemistry of pepenicillin, which is a process that began as far back as 1939.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah, 100%. And this is weird. So as 1939 is going through its 1939ness, the Second World War is ramping up, and these wartime conditions on multiple levels are making research increasingly difficult. So we all know the game at this point. You start experimenting with clinical trials. You want to do some animal experiments, and they start trying to figure out where they can grow enough mold, filtrate, they call it, to conduct these trials and experiments, they need 500 liters of this stuff. So they start growing it everywhere they can. We're talking bathtubs, bedpans, empty cans for growing this super mold juice. And what they did is they built this thing that allows you to. You know how you like when you're cooking some stuff, you gotta skim the froth off the top. They wanted the broth beneath the surface of the mold. That's the mold juice. And to do this, they hired a group of people they call the penicillin girls. And for two pound a week, this team inoculates and sort of continually stays at these containers, making sure the fermentation is fermenting. Eventually, as a result of this, that Oxford laboratory that was doing other stuff, it is turned into the world's first on purpose penicillin factory, and then goes on to save millions and millions of lives. This can sound kind of sensitive now in a world of superbugs and livestock problems with.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, well. And issues and controversies surrounding vaccination as well, of course.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah, that's the point. I was going to say as well. Here in 2025, the idea might seem elementary or maybe even controversial to some people, if we're being honest, but we have to remember a ton of folks were dying because of this. This was a lifesaver. And it was completely by accident.

[Noel Brown]

And if anybody out there is looking for an interesting watch, other than that documentary that we talked about, I'm sure you're familiar with this too, Ben. There is a new ish Adult Swim cartoon called what is it? Common side effects that I believe one of the characters is sort of like a fantasy version kind of of like the type of work that Paul Stemets does. And just this sort of like idea of mushrooms being a secret alien thing that has of huge potential ramifications for the human race beyond in terms of healing and transcending this mortal coil stuff. It's a fabulous show by the same studio that created the sci fi cartoon scavenger's reign, which I know that you also were a fan of, Ben.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah, I enjoyed that, Nolan. I appreciate that mention there because we can without spoiling it further than what you said in the excellent setup. We can tell you it's not what you were expecting for sure. And this takes us to another amazing accidental invention common to so many kitchens.

[Noel Brown]

Beep. That wasn't an editorial beep. That was the sound of the thing.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah.

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[Noel Brown]

So where do you go next? Back to ebay.

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[Ben Bullen]

Ah yes, the microwave. Street name microwave, technical name. Microwave oven. You know it. It's used for like whenever you want something to like whenever you're cooking or reheating Tupperware and you're like, man, I wish this Tupperware was really hot and the stuff inside it was still sort of cold.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah. And if only I could find a way for I get to get all the microplastics out of it into every bit. Maximize microplastics per bite.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah, the microwave oven. Simply put, you can find more about this on historyofmicrowave.com which is a real site. Sure is.

[Noel Brown]

Locked that one down.

[Ben Bullen]

The microwave bombards food with microwaves that make dipole molecules of water and other substances revolve and collide rapidly. And this creates heat.

[Noel Brown]

It's like a small hadron collider of your very own.

[Ben Bullen]

And we owe it all to a guy named Percy Spencer who was just. I love this story. We talked about it in a previous series that we made years and years ago.

[Noel Brown]

Stuff of genius, right?

[Ben Bullen]

Stuff of genius. Of course. Good stuff. Ah, man, I missed that show. It was weird.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, you were a huge part of that. It was incredible.

[Ben Bullen]

Oh well, credit were due. Our pal Paul Deckent did the majority of the animations and I was just writing it. We had.

[Noel Brown]

But you appeared in some of them. It was like a rotating cast of like how stuff works folks. Talking about in a very stylish package, like various how stuff worksy kind of things. But it was definitely an evolution in the YouTube days of Halcyon YouTube days of how stuff works.

[Ben Bullen]

Right, right. Well, I appreciate that, Noel. If we go back to Maine in 1894, we're joining Percy Spencer in Howland. Percy doesn't have Holland Howland.

[Noel Brown]

Oh, Howland. Okay, cool.

[Ben Bullen]

Like.

[Noel Brown]

No, I'm joking. It's funny. It's like saying Holland with a weird southern accent.

[Ben Bullen]

It's like a werewolf version of Holland Howland.

[Noel Brown]

It is in Maine, so this is all very appropriate. They talk a little funny in Maine. Have you ever seen a Stephen King adaptation?

[Ben Bullen]

Ah, the soil is sour.

[Noel Brown]

It sure is. In Howland, the soil is sour.

[Ben Bullen]

Nahista. So Spencer, Yeah, again, he doesn't have the best upbringing. He is only 18 months old when his father passes away. And his mom, let's keep in mind this is, you know, the late 1800s. His mom is gonna have a very difficult time as a single parent, so she brings the kid to his aunt and uncle to take care of him.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, that's right. And this, sadly was just the next kind of setup for tragedy for young Spencer. His uncle passed away as well when he was only seven. So he and his aunt kind of banded together in grief, I guess, and started kind of traveling around New England. And this. Maybe I'm making this sound more charming than it was. I think it was. A lot of it had to do with survival. But she was what you'd call an itinerant weaver, which that ain't good, right, Ben? That's almost like being an indentured servant. It's not good. The benefit is not in your corner.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah, it's like they cast aside notions of healthcare or worker protections. You're on a contract make work basis. And he is traveling with his aunt. And good on her, by the way, for not abandoning this poor child. And he's working whatever odd jobs he can pick up as he ages. He would later go on to recall that this taught him a degree of self reliance. And he was a huge fan of what he called Yankee ingenuity, which he said served him well in later life. And this is coming to us with thanks to Emily Conover, writing for American Physicist Society.

[Noel Brown]

Yep, good stuff. Another really great rundown of this incredible and happenstanceical invention.

[Ben Bullen]

Happenstansical is a great word. I like it. So look, he becomes Spencer is a smart kid by any means.

[Noel Brown]

Sure is. Yeah. He's bootstrapped himself and paid attention and learned the hard way that you gotta kinda make your own way. And he, you know, he paid attention. Let's just say that Yankee ingenuity served him well.

[Ben Bullen]

Indeed, I would argue that a lot of his. There's definitely some trauma to his story and a lot of his brilliance is informed by tragedy. When the Titanic. The unsinkable Titanic. Spoiler.

[Noel Brown]

We got a good one coming up about that too. In its own weird way. Just a little. Another spoiler.

[Ben Bullen]

But spoiler. The Titanic sinks. Abraham Lincoln doesn't have a great time at the plane. So 1912 Titanic sinks, and Spencer, with the rest of the American public and the European public, is fascinated darkly by this story. And he is especially inspired by the heroism of radio operators on board that doomed vessel. And this gives him a lifelong interest in a technology that we would now call wireless.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, the golden age of wireless. Exactly. So pretty soon we've got wartime research funding flowing, so you start to see some advancements in this kind of technology. One thing in particular, the cavity magnetron, which is a high frequency tube with built in resonant cavities that is designed to produce a focused beam of microwave energy. This is a big deal in radar technology and communications. Long range communications, I believe, with the British.

[Ben Bullen]

Yes. Yeah. This is also part of how. Part of the origin story for the myth about eating carrots to improve your eyesight and night vision. Because the British at the time. We mentioned this before, the British at the time did not want their enemies in Germany to know that radar was a thing. So instead they were just saying, oh, yeah, our pilots eat a lot of carrots. And everybody just went with it. History is so ridiculous, dude.

[Noel Brown]

Anyways, yeah, we should start a podcast.

[Ben Bullen]

That's a good idea. I hope we get bitten by some radioactive microphones. Spencer is messing with energy beyond human Ken. He figures out how to mass produce these magnetrons. And because radar helps win the war, and because this guy figured out how to mass produce these things, he receives the U.S. navy's highest honor that can be bestowed upon a civilian, the Distinguished Public Service Award, which is boring as hell sounding. I know, I know. It's a history of beige, but it's a big deal.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah. The musical, perhaps. Yes, Beige, the musical. Check out our recent episode of Strange News on stuff that I want you to know if you want to catch the rest of the difference.

[Ben Bullen]

So this idea is not his original invention, but here's his accidental invention. Here's where things get beautifully wacky. The idea of heating stuff with high frequency electromagnetic waves. People have thought about that since 1934. And we know that Bell Labs even filed a patent to that effect just to that idea in 1937, but no one took it as far as Spencer, because we must assume no one in this rarefied air liked a little snack as much as him. He's a guy who walks around with snacks. I approve of that.

[Noel Brown]

He's a snacker. Yeah. He would have multiple snacks. It seems this is all. This is a very snack based discovery. He was hanging around near an active radar situation and noticed that a candy bar in his pocket had melted. I'm presuming this is just like a traditional 1930s like chocolate ration bar. Right. And realized that the microwaves might actually be a potential for cooking food. So he takes it a step further to test this theory or this hypothesis. He places popcorn kernels near the magnetron and just as he suspected, they start to pop, pop, pop. So next he decides to kind of build out a bit of a prototype. Right? Like a quick and dirty prototype.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah. He takes a kettle and he cuts a hole in the side of it and then he puts an egg in the kettle and he uses the equipment that they have on hand to direct this magnetron energy through that hole that he's just cut. This is like the world's first microwave. It works again. Kind of. But just like the melty chocolate in the pocket, the egg explodes. Great.

[Noel Brown]

Rhymes.

[Ben Bullen]

Oh, thank you. Drop the beat. The egg explodes.

[Noel Brown]

And this is, I love real egg on face moment.

[Ben Bullen]

Very much so. Literally, literally. This is ridiculous history cinema. Because when the egg pops, it splats in the face.

[Noel Brown]

Oh, gosh. Cut to these, these astonished, irritated colleagues with egg all over them.

[Ben Bullen]

It literally like, you fools, the skeptical. Yeah. The doubting Thomas in the lab is like, I'll show you. Spencer, you. You're crazy. Let me take a look at this.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, it's incredible, man. Oh, boy. Yep. And Whirlpool. That's pretty funny. The company, I believe that makes like dryers and microwaves and stuff. Can we just really quickly to give a shout out to 30 Rock for its microwave content. I believe the character of Jack Donaghy, who is like a CEO type of General Electric. He's like the head of microwave oven technology or that division. And he's always cooking up, no pun intended, some new, you know, implementation of microwave technology and niggas advertising for it.

[Ben Bullen]

Because he's in charge of Boom, the sitcom.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah. He's got a hyphenate microwave that includes.

[Ben Bullen]

Yes.

[Noel Brown]

It's really great. If you haven't seen that holds up a joke a second. It's so dense with. You know, Donald Glover wrote that doesn't surprise me. He's. He's Sharp. And. And all of the writing is sharp. Tina Fey for the win. But what is he? How does he pivot it from this potential embarrassing, dejected moment into microwave greatness?

[Ben Bullen]

Before we get to that. And that's a great question. Before we get to that, we do have to doff our caps to one of the most amazing throwaway lines in 30 Rock, which is when Tracy Jordan's wife says, my new single, my new single is dropping. Is dropping. It's just the language of it. Anyway.

[Noel Brown]

Oh, it's fantastic. There's also a great. He has some great conspiracy kind of lines. You know, there's one where he's talking about how the government's injecting black people's chicken nuggets with cancer or something like that. Anyway, just worth your time. Start it from scratch. We highly recommend 30 Rock.

[Ben Bullen]

And back to our guy, Percy Spencer, who would have just been beautiful at 30 Rock.

[Noel Brown]

A real beautiful boy. He's a good looking man too. I don't know this in my mind. He is. We'll cast him beautiful. Okay.

[Ben Bullen]

Energetic. So he is a self taught engineer. Right. It was that kind of time in the world, in the west. And he is able to file the first patent for this thing called the microwave oven in 1945. So hitting right there as the US is beginning to emerge as the world's preeminent superpower. You know what I mean?

[Noel Brown]

Totally. Oh, my God. And this was also that age of the atom kind of era where this was like, you're living in the future. They literally. I mean, I don't know if this was in America as well, but in the UK and I think they still do actually, they called it robot cooking. There was like this sense that the microwave was this like futuristic device, you know, like meals in pill form level, you know?

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah, I love it. When those things still had the new car smell. They would sometimes tell kids, this is astronaut food. This is how the astronauts eat.

[Noel Brown]

Remember the actual astronaut food we got or you got at space camp? I wasn't invited. Or actually I just didn't have what it takes. But I'd buy it at the planetarium. You know that crunchy, delightful stuff.

[Ben Bullen]

I love it, man. I love it. Let's go get astronaut food together.

[Noel Brown]

Maybe we can get Jeff Bezos to set this up in a space capsule and then we'll call ourselves astronauts and then anything we eat will be astronaut food. All right.

[Ben Bullen]

Okay. I was going to pass until you nailed the logic at the end of that one. That was well done. So. All right. His patent is exactly what you might picture in your kitchen here. Metal box that contains the microwaves. There's an opening where this magnetron tube can poke through. Spencer also has another innovation. He adds a door to the metal box. This is the granddaddy, the paterfamilias of every microwave that you have ever seen.

[Noel Brown]

The defining moment of Jack Donaghy's life.

[Ben Bullen]

Yes, yes.

[Noel Brown]

Truly, he's really. That's another thing that's great about that character. He's like passionate about microwave items. Yeah, he's into it. He's all in. As you would say. 10 toes down on a 10 toes.

[Ben Bullen]

Yes. Shout out to Jack. And shout out to Jack, the character. We're still on the fence about the actor who portrays him. I think that's fair to say the next one, maybe the last one for this episode, is got to be one of the coolest named inventions ever. X rays.

[Noel Brown]

X rays.

[Chelsea Handler]

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[Noel Brown]

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Uh huh.

[Unknown]

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[Ben Bullen]

Picture this. You're in the garage, hands covered in grease, just finished tuning up your engine with a part you found on ebay. And you realize, you know what? I could also use new brakes.

[Noel Brown]

So where do you go next? Back to ebay.

[Ben Bullen]

You can find anything there. It's unreal.

[Noel Brown]

Wipers, headlights, even cold air intakes. It's all there.

[Ben Bullen]

And you've got ebay. Guaranteed fit.

[Noel Brown]

You order a part and if it doesn't fit, send it back. Simple as the look.

[Ben Bullen]

DIY fixes can be major. Doesn't matter if it's Just maintenance or a major mod.

[Noel Brown]

You got it. Especially when things are guaranteed to fit.

[Ben Bullen]

So when you dive into your next car project, start with ebay.

[Noel Brown]

All the parts you need at prices you'll love. Guaranteed to fit every time. Ebay.

[Ben Bullen]

Things people love.

[Unknown]

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[Ben Bullen]

You remember. Did you ever have X ray glasses?

[Noel Brown]

That's funny you should mention that, Ben. And maybe I'll save this for later, but do you remember? Yeah. X ray specs, they would call. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't. Did they do anything? I remember. No, they just had swirly lines on them and a little pinhole and. And was there any kind of lens or something in there? What even were they for?

[Ben Bullen]

A few. There were lenses that played with light a bit, but it wouldn't let you see beneath people's clothing or see through walls.

[Noel Brown]

Correct. Yeah. And I was actually Googling because there was the thing I was. I'm just gonna go ahead and drop it. All this talk about these weird inventions. Not weird inventions, but, like, circumstantial, accidental inventions. Made me think of a funny invention story that I was sharing with Matt. Max, before you joined Ben, did you know that whiteout was invented by the mother of the Monkees lead singer Jason Naismith? Yeah. It's incredible. And like, he inherited like $50 million from her. And it is fascinating stuff. Like she was a typist and invented this material that then went on to be hugely influential back when typing was still much, much more of a thing. Unrelated. But when I was Googling that, the inventor of the X ray specs came up and he also invented sea monkeys.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah, and a couple of other things too. Right?

[Noel Brown]

That's right. We're not talking about him.

[Ben Bullen]

Novelty.

[Noel Brown]

He was a bit of a. Yes, he was a bit of a huckster. You know what? I think at their best, X ray specs created some sort of optical illusion. I think there was some Sort of refraction situation going on.

[Ben Bullen]

Right. You can't play with the light, but they wouldn't let you see under clothing and they wouldn't let you see through walls.

[Noel Brown]

And there's also a fantastic post punk UK post punk band called X Ray Specs, which I highly recommend. S P E X. It's X ray. S P E X. Incredible front person named Polystyrene, which is. Wow, isn't polystyrene connected to Tupperware? Wasn't that the name of the stuff? That was polyethylene. Polyethylene. Anyway, either way, full circle.

[Ben Bullen]

Probably not their legal Christian, but we're.

[Noel Brown]

Talking about not the X ray specs. We're talking about actual X rays.

[Ben Bullen]

Right. Which do give you a side. A body. If you have ever had the misfortune of having a broken bone or something where a doctor needs to pop the hood on your body without actually opening the hood just yet, then you will get an X ray like a. The standard screening method for breast cancer, the mammogram, uses X rays. And nowadays we barely think about it. But for a long, long time, for the majority of human history, if you had a broken bone, a tumor, you swallowed something, you were getting cut. Yeah. People wouldn't know unless they got in those guts.

[Noel Brown]

That's terrifying. I've never had surgery, y' all, and I am deathly terrified of going under the knife. It's a trust. I know, and it really freaks me out. And maybe as I'm getting older, I'm warming up to the idea. I didn't even used to like getting blood drawn, which I'm about to have to go do today. And I got over that. So we'll see once the time comes for me to go under the knife. But, yeah, it was a big deal that they could preemptively check something out before, you know, having to, like, open you up. Like you said, Ben, get in those guts.

[Ben Bullen]

So our story of X rays begins with a guy named Wilhelm Rotagen, who is a professor of. Of physics over in Bavaria. And he is a serious dude. He's not trying to make, you know, wacky X ray specs to see Hypnotized.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah.

[Ben Bullen]

Or hypnotized. He discovers the concept of x rays in 1895. So it's older than a lot of people might assume. And he does it by accident. He's looking into something totally different. He's like, hey, can cathode rays pass through glass? Alo.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, that was definitely the question he was asking. And he was a super Cool dude as well, would have been right at home in the movie Point Break. His cathode tube that he created to test this theory, he covered in heavy black paper. So he was kind of surprised when an incandescent green light escaped and was projected on this nearby fluorescent screen.

[Ben Bullen]

And so, just like Spencer and just like Fleming, he says, I'm going to tick. Because he's a wealth of accents and there he's what's away. So he decides to conduct a series of experiments. And he says, you know, whatever this mysterious light is, it passes through so many other substances, but it always leaves shadows of solid objects. And the reason he calls them X rays is because he doesn't know what the rays are. He could have stuck.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, it's a real sticky name because it sounds cool.

[Ben Bullen]

He could have called them Z rays or N rays or Y or, I.

[Noel Brown]

Don'T know, rays or. What are they? Rays.

[Ben Bullen]

Guess. Rays, the phenomenon formerly known as rays.

[Noel Brown]

Yes, exactly. Because all bets are off now. We thought we knew all the rays, but now we got this new one. Where do we even go from here? We're going to really need to rethink our lives.

[Ben Bullen]

And so this is weird because we see how casual, dare I say, cavalier science could be at the time. He puts an X ray over his wife's hand, right. And her name's Annabetha Ludwig. And she looks at the shadows cast by the bones and the. On her hand, quote of the day. Yeah. And she says, do it.

[Noel Brown]

Oh, I have seen my death.

[Ben Bullen]

Which, you know, is understandable. X rays, it's a big deal.

[Noel Brown]

This was not a thing. This was. No one had seen this. Like to view your own skeleton without, you know, being dead dead. Right. That is it. That association was. Was serious.

[Ben Bullen]

There's a skeleton in all of us.

[Noel Brown]

There really is. And some in their closets, potentially.

[Ben Bullen]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Be upfront with them. Look, this is amazing for all sorts of applications, especially in the world of medicine. So within a year, doctors throughout Europe and the US are using X rays to prevent cutting people open. They're finding gunshots, bone fractures, broken bones, swallowed stuff, kidney stones.

[Noel Brown]

By the way, there's some hilarious memes of X rays, of things that shouldn't be up people's butts.

[Ben Bullen]

Right, Exactly. Oh, Doctor, sorry, I fell on that.

[Noel Brown]

My bad.

[Ben Bullen]

And they're like, yeah, well, you keep falling on it.

[Noel Brown]

Actually, the game is really good.

[Ben Bullen]

So he gets the first Nobel Prize in physics in 1901. Now, we do have to do one bit of historical diligence here. This is before people realize over time. Yeah, that too.

[Noel Brown]

I was gonna say.

[Ben Bullen]

Yeah. Too much exposure to X rays can have deleterious effects on a human body.

[Noel Brown]

I was gonna ask. We're talking cancer. We're talking cell abnormality type stuff. Right. Like it can cause mutations. Cause it's bombarding you. It's sort of like radiation. Which is why when you go to get an X ray now, they put a lead vest over you and make sure that you're not getting too much.

[Ben Bullen]

Of it and they tell you everything's fine. Right before they run out of the room. Yeah. Also, there was a brief period of time in US history where X rays were such a novelty that shoe stores would have them. And so you would put your foot in the X ray machine just like.

[Noel Brown]

As a fun little thing. That is so interesting because now we think of the cost of getting medical, perceived tests even. And obviously X rays aren't the only game in town anymore. We have MRIs and things that are much more like she can show three dimensional things, but yet the X ray is still popping. You know, it's the most cost effective and efficient way in certain situations. Like you're talking about with gunshot wounds and bone fractures. You know, they still do an X ray because an MRI is so damn expensive.

[Ben Bullen]

I love an X ray, man.

[Noel Brown]

You know, remember those bone recordings, the X ray records we talked about? Really cool episode. If you want to do a deep dive back into ridiculous history. History, but well deserved Nobel Prize.

[Ben Bullen]

Yes, very much so. Definitely not the most controversial of Nobel prizes. We could say with some we're good.

[Noel Brown]

With X rays, even if a little cancer at least.

[Ben Bullen]

Fine. We could say with some collateral damage. We could say with some certitude is not the most controversial Nobel Prize. And we can say with some optimism that we very much hope you enjoy today's show. Thank you. Thank you so much for joining us, folks. Big thanks to Our super producer, Mr. Max Williams, our research associate, Jeff. And ooh. Tune in later this week. We've got even more accidental inventions with.

[Noel Brown]

A marvelous, marvelous toy. A wonderful, wonderful toy. Fun for a girl and a boy. You know the one nice tease. Yeah.

[Ben Bullen]

Big thanks, of course, to AJ Bahamas Jacobs. Reluctant thanks to, of course, Jonathan Strickland, AKA the Quister.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah. A bit of a byproduct of the evil in the universe we're talking about anyway.

[Ben Bullen]

A manifestation of our own karma.

[Noel Brown]

There you go. Exactly. He's a mirror. A dark mirror.

[Ben Bullen]

Dare we say, big thanks to Alex Williams, who composed the slap and bop. The rude dudes of ridiculous crime. And Noel, big thanks to you. I. I think maybe we could get into this in part two, but maybe we peek behind the curtain in our next installment and tell people how ridiculous history itself is kind of an accidental invention.

[Noel Brown]

Oh, we must. Yeah, that's a very good point, Ben. We'll see you next time, folks. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite show.

[Unknown]

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All right, listen up people. It's Chelsea Handler and we need to talk about something really important. And they're called orgasms. If you're not making them a priority, PinkCherry.com is here to fix that. Orgasms boost your mood, lower stress and help you sleep. And let's be honest, we could all use a little release these days. From the iconic magic wand to We Vibe's couples toys to the game changing Womanizer, pinkcherry.com has everything you need. Solo or with someone. Feeling good is the goal. So go to pinkcherry.com and save up to 80% off site wide. You deserve it if you know you.

[Chelsea Handler]

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[Ben Bullen]

Balancing work, family and education isn't easy, but American Public University makes it possible.

[Noel Brown]

With online courses, monthly start dates and flexible schedules. APU is designed for busy professionals who need education that fits their lives.

[Ben Bullen]

And Affordability matters too. APU offers the opportunity grant, giving students 10% off undergraduate and master's level tuition, helping you reach your goals without breaking the bank.

[Noel Brown]

Plus, they provide career services and 24. 7 mental health support at no extra cost.

[Ben Bullen]

So visit Apu Apus Edu to learn more. That's Apu Apus Edu.

[Noel Brown]

You're listening to an iHeart podcast.