A. P. Anderson

A.P. Anderson, a scientist from Red Wing, Minnesota, discovered the combustion of the starch molecule by puffing wheat and rice. He sold the patent to the Quaker Oats Co. in Chicago and changed forever the way people ate breakfast. In addition to being a scientist, he was a farmer, teacher, botanist and poet. His legacy lives on at the Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, located at his estate in Red Wing, Minnesota.
~Joan Hedin, Duluth, MN

Alexander P. Anderson, the son of Swedish immigrants, perfected a way to make puffed rice cereal while living in Red Wing. He sold the process to the Quaker Oats Company. His grandson, Robert Hedin, says the cereal was introduced at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair and became a sensation. I really don't know more than that but my mom had a cousin who lived in Red Wing and I remember her telling us about the man who shot wheat from cannons.
~Cheri Thies

He invented puffed cereal in the early 1900s.
~Roslyn Hjermstad, Cannon Falls, MN