Editing AGA cooker (section)

==History==
Originally developed to burn [[coal]] or [[anthracite]], the Aga range cooker was invented in 1922 by the Nobel Prize-winning Swedish physicist [[Gustaf Dalén]] (1869–1937), who was employed as the chief engineer of the Swedish [[AGA AB|AGA]] company ([[Swedish language|Swedish]] ''Svenska Aktiebolaget Gasaccumulator'', English ''Swedish Gas Accumulator, Limited'').<ref>{{cite news |title=Design classic: the Aga range cooker |url=https://www.ft.com/content/c5018948-acc3-11e6-ba7d-76378e4fef24 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/c5018948-acc3-11e6-ba7d-76378e4fef24 |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |work=ft.com |publisher=[[Financial Times]] |date=25 November 2016}}</ref> "AGA" stands for Aktiebolaget Gas Accumulator.

Dalén lost his sight in an explosion while developing his earlier invention, a porous [[Substrate (materials science)|substrate]] for storing gases, [[Agamassan]]. Forced to stay at home, Dalén discovered that his wife was exhausted by cooking. Although blind, he set out to develop a new stove that was capable of a range of culinary techniques and easy to use.

Adopting the principle of heat storage, he combined a heat source, two large hotplates and two ovens into one unit: the Aga Range Cooker. The cooker was introduced to the United Kingdom in 1929, and was manufactured there under licence in the early 1930s.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kennedy |first1=Thom |title=Aga Rangemaster to close Coalbrookdale foundry |url=https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/business/2017/05/24/aga-rangemaster-set-to-close-coalbrookdale-foundry/ |website=www.shropshirestar.com |date=24 May 2017 |language=en}}</ref> Its popularity in certain parts of British society (owners of medium to large [[country houses]]) led to the coining of the term '[[AGA saga]]' in the 1990s, referring to a genre of fiction set amongst stereotypical upper-middle-class society.<ref>[http://www.enotes.com/oce-encyclopedia/aga-saga Aga Saga], ''[[Oxford Companion to English Literature]]''. Hosted at enotes.com. Retrieved on 29 May 2009.</ref>

[[David Ogilvy (businessman)|David Ogilvy]] was initially hired as an Aga range cooker salesperson, before writing the 1935 sales manual for the product.

The [[Cast iron|cast-iron]] parts were cast at the [[Coalbrookdale]] foundry in the 1940s, where they were still made by the [[Aga Rangemaster Group]] until November 2017, when the new American owners [[Middleby Corporation|Middleby]] closed the site with the loss of 35 jobs.<ref>{{cite news|title=Coalbrookdale Aga foundry to close by end of November|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-42066878|access-date=23 November 2017|publisher=[[BBC]]|date=21 November 2017}}</ref>