Accidental Discovery: The Microwave

Sometimes I wonder about how the things I use on a daily basis were created.  One such item is the microwave.  I decided to type into the Google search engine, "creation of the microwave".  The history I found was a great surprise to me because the microwave was created due to an accidental discovery.  Scientist, Dr. Percy Spencer, was testing out a new vacuum tube the magnetron, and he noticed that the candy bar in his pocket melted.  He decided to test this consequence further by putting popping corn near the tube, and it popped!  He further tested the properties of the magnetron and created the microwave.
Source: http://www.gallawa.com/microtech/history.html

Sometimes important inventions to society are not created by actively searching for them (i.e. a box shaped contraption that quickly heats food), but by making observations.  Spencer made the observation that when he was by the magnetron, the candy bar melted.  He continued off of that observation and created a very useful kitchen appliance.  If Spencer did not have a candy bar in his pocket that day, we might not have microwaves around today.