Electromagnetic radiation was first predicted in Maxwell's equations in 1864 and its existence was demonstrated by Heinrich Hertz in 1888. During World War II, microwave technology was used in radar telecommunications. The first microwave oven was developed by the Raytheon Company of North America in 1951, demonstrating the potential of microwaves in applications that provide rapid and energy-efficient heating. In the 1970s, the microwave generator was reengineered by the Japanese into a domestic microwave oven (a simple, reliable, and cheap magnetron) to be used in food processing.