Read through our pick of some dope american inventions.

Microwave

Now a common kitchen appliance, the microwave oven has become the irreplaceable gadget for cooking, thawing or reheating food, popping popcorn and making stews. The microwave was not originally intended for kitchen use until in 1945 when Percy Spencer, an engineer from Maine who was working on the magnetron for radar sets at Raytheon, found out that the microwaves had melted the chocolate in his pocket.

Email

The email has become the preferred form of communication because it enables quick relay of messages and at the same time saves resources like ink and paper. The first email was sent in 1971 using ARPANET, by Ray Tomlinson

Mobile Phones

The first hand held mobile phone was developed by a team headed by Dr. Martin Cooper. Dr. Cooper was formerly the vice president of Motorola. He was the division head when he showcased a 1kg mobile phone in 1973.

Transistor

In 1947, the first transistor was created at Bell Labs, and was about the size of your iPod classic. Transistors were a more efficient, compact and stable alternative to the large, hot and unreliable vacuum tube.

3D Printing

Quickly proving itself to be one of the most useful and controversial technologies of our time, stereolithography, or 3D printing, was invented by Chuck Hull, founder of 3D Systems. 3D printing seems to have endless potential, having already been used to produce body parts, food, surgical implants e.t.c