Revolutionary thoughts from Astroview Oct 2010

Before they became objects that changed our world, items such as the telephone and light bulb existed as mere ideas in someone's head. Here's a look at some of the best ideas that have become indispensable everyday things:

Ice-cream cone:

More than a century ago, ice cream was food for the rich and was only served in cups or plates. It wasn't until a St Louis' fair in 1904 that the ice cream cone was born. Ice cream vendor Arnold Fornachou ran out of dishes to serve his ice cream. Neighbouring vendor Ernest Hamwi, who was selling Zalabia,  a wafer-like pastry, decided to help him out by rolling the Zalabias into cones and placing the ice cream on top

Potato chips:

Before there were potato chips, there were only potato fries. Then one day in 1853, in a New York restaurant, a fussy diner complained that the fries were too thick and soggy and rejected them. Irritated, chef George Crum decided to get back at the customer by slicing the potatoes extremely thin and frying them until they were so crispy they cannot be skewered by a fork. But instead of getting angry, the diner loved them and chips quickly became a hit at the restaurant!

Microwave oven:

It was 1945. Engineer Percy Spencer was experimenting on a magnetron, a device that can fire high intensity of radiation, when he realised that the chocolate bar in his pocket had melted. Intrigued by the discovery, he tried placing popcorn and an egg near the magnetron. Sure enough, the popcorn popped and the egg exploded. Two years later, the radiation was fed into a metal box and it became the world's first microwave oven.

Note: Pictures googled