Percy Spencer Percy Spencer Percy Lebaron Spencer (July 19, 1894 – September 8, 1970) was an American physicist and inventor. He became known as the inventor of the microwave oven. Spencer was born in Howland, Maine. Eighteen months later, Spencer's father died, and his mother soon left him in the care of his aunt and uncle. His uncle then died when Spencer was just seven years old. Spencer subsequently left grammar school to earn money to support himself and his aunt. From the ages of twelve to sixteen, he worked from sunrise to sunset at a spool mill. At the later age,
Percy Weston son, Spencer Vaughan Percy (1883–1973), became a brigadier with the 17th Battalion Royal Fusiliers in the First World War; in 1943, he survived the sinking of the by the Italian submarine , off the West African coast. He married Henrietta Valerie Compton-Smith (1890–1980), whose brother Geoffrey Lee Compton-Smith (born 1889) was executed by the Irish Republican Army in April 1921. The youngest of the four sons, Howard Vernon Percy (1884–1965), also served with the Royal Navy, reaching the rank of lieutenant commander. A daughter, Beatrice Dorothy (1881–1970), married John Alexander Duncan (1878–1943). He was also a Royal Navy officer, reaching