The sources on wikipedia say it was Percy Spencer, an American self-taught engineer. He noticed a Mr. Goodbar candy bar he had in his pocket started to melt from microwaves from an active radar set he was working on. The first food deliberately cooked was popcorn, and the second was an egg, which exploded.

Here are the direct sources: https://web.archive.org/web/20110709081022/http://www.gallawa.com/microtech/history.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h1ESUz2H3E

If you have a link to the hamster experiment I would love to read more. I might dive into a microwave research hole today! lol

[–] Count042@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tdiKTSdE9Y

Video has links to references and actual interview with the scientist.

It wasn't sold or marketed, but it was a microwave.

[–] CosmicSploogeDrizzle@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Very cool! I'll check it out! Thanks