Microwave cookery was first demonstrated by Ross Kilgore of Westinghouse at the Chicago World’s Fair, which opened on 27th May, 1933. But the event was deemed to be a side-show of little scientific significance, and was forgotten until microwaves were ‘discovered’ two decades later.

Incredibly also on display at the Chicago World’s Fair were incubated premature babies; people with dwarfism paraded in ‘midget’s village’; and, most attention-grabbingly of all, a provocative fan dancer called Sally Rand. Different times.

In this episode, Arion, Olly and Rebecca compare the Fair’s SkyRide to its ‘coal mine’; question the purpose of a cigar-smoking robot; and explain why amoebic dysentery made an unwelcome souvenir for many... 

Further Reading:

• America’s Best History looks back at the ‘Century of Progress’ exhibition: 

https://americasbesthistory.com/wfchicago1933.html

• Wilding Pictures captures Technicolor footage of the Fair in 1934: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTqNPjQvOC0

• The ‘Coal Mine’ exhibit, preserved at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry:

https://www.msichicago.org/explore/whats-here/exhibits/coal-mine/

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The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.

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