Thomas Edison is often credited with inventing the light bulb in 1879, but other inventors played a part in its creation.
While he did patent the first commercially successful light bulb in 1879, its history dates back to 1800 with Italian inventor Alessandro Volta's first electric battery called the voltaic pile. Humphry Davy also invented the first electric lamp in 1802.
#10 An old choir director of mine lived next door to one of the guys who developed the earliest patents for home microwave ovens. They were approved and being marketed by the 70s, but he wouldn't have one in his house until the 90s because they still leaked too much radiation of some sort.