16 Inventors Killed By Their Own Inventions
Cameron Fetter
Published
8 hours ago
in
facepalm
It’s a dog eat dog world out there, or rather a creation eat creator.
Yes, inventors being killed by their own inventions is not a phenomenon limited to the fictional world of Frankenstein. There are a surprising number of inventors whose lives were cruelly taken by that which they delivered unto the world.
If there’s any lesson to take from these incidents, it’s that no invention is too innocuous to cause your own death. Even if you’re not working on a giant death robot, fate has an insidious way of creeping in.
Check it out for your daily dose of irony.
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1. Ismail ibn Hammad al-Jawhari
Ismail ibn Hammad al-Jawhari was a Kazakh Turkic scholar who invented a new ‘flying machine’ in the early 11th century. The machine consisted of two wooden wings and a rope. To test his machine, he jumped from the roof of a mosque and fell to his death. -
2. Sylvester H. Roper
Sylvester H. Roper invented the Roper steam velocipede, an early steam-powered bicycle that may have technically been the first motorcycle. During a speed trial in 1896, he had a heart attack and crashed. It’s not known whether the heart attack caused the crash or vice versa. -
3. Thomas Harris
Thomas Harris invented the gas discharge valve, a way to empty gas from a hot air balloon and lower it. He died in 1824 when the cord attached to his gas release valve tightened and released much more gas than intended, crashing his balloon. -
4. Franz Reichelt
Franz Reichelt was a tailor who invented a parachute suit in 1912 that could be worn as a coat. He told authorities he would test it by strapping a dummy into the suit and throwing it off the Eiffel Tower, but at the last minute he confidently donned the coat himself and leapt to his death. The whole thing was captured by a camera crew. -
5. Henry Smolinski
Henry Smolinski designed a flying car in 1973 called the AVE Mizar. It was essentially a Ford Pinto attached to a Cessna Skymaster. During a test flight, the aircraft disintegrated, killing Smolinski and the Vice President of AVE. The Mizar was the only product of AVE. -
6. Marie Curie
One of the most famous names on this list, Marie Curie, was a chemist and physicist who pioneered research on radioactivity and discovered the radioactive elements radium and polonium. She died in 1934 from severe aplastic anemia, believed to have been contracted from long-term radiation exposure. -
7. Carlisle Spedding
Carlisle Spedding, along with his brother James, invented many safety improvements for the mining industry. One such invention was a mechanical device that used spinning gears with flint and steel to generate showers of sparks. This provided illumination and was supposedly safer than an open flame. In 1755, Carlisle Spedding was killed in an underground gas explosion triggered by one of his devices. -
8. Henry Winstanley
Henry Winstanley was the architect of the world’s first ever offshore lighthouse in Devon, England. He was confident and boastful about his invention and wanted to shelter inside it during "the greatest storm there ever was" to prove it was safe. The Great Storm of 1703 completely destroyed the lighthouse with Winstanley inside, so thoroughly that no trace of him or the five other men inside was ever found. -
9. Thomas Andrews
Thomas Andrews was a British businessman and shipbuilder who served as the naval architect of the RMS Titanic. He was aboard the infamous ship during its maiden voyage, and we all know what happened next. -
10. Stockton Rush
A more recent example, Stockton Rush, was the CEO of the ocean exploration company OceanGate, who oversaw the design of the Titan submersible. During a dive to view the wreck of the Titanic, the Titan imploded, killing Rush and four other passengers. Rush previously spoke about his unregulated design, saying, "At some point, safety is just pure waste. I mean, if you just want to be safe, don't get out of bed, don't get in your car, don't do anything". -
11. Thomas Midgley Jr.
Thomas Midgley Jr. was an American chemist and engineer who invented the ‘leaded’ additive to gasoline and chlorofluorocarbons. At age 51, he contracted polio, leaving him severely disabled. In order to help move around, he invented a complex system of ropes and pulleys around his bed. In 1944, he died of strangulation when he became entangled in the ropes. -
12. William Bullock
William Bullock invented the web rotary printing press, which was a great improvement on the regular rotary printing press. In 1867, Bullock was performing adjustments on one of his machines being installed at a newspaper in Philadelphia. His foot became caught in the machine, which crushed his leg. He developed gangrene and died during the amputation of his leg. -
13. Georg Wilhelm Richmann
Georg Wilhelm Richmann built a device to study electricity from lightning. In 1753, he was trying to use his device on a nearby storm when it created a ball of lightning that hit him in the forehead, killing him. -
14. Karel Soucek
Karel Soucek was a stuntman who created a barrel that was shock-absorbent. In 1985, he demonstrated his invention by climbing inside the barrel and having it dropped from the roof of the Houston Astrodome. His barrel missed the tank of water meant to cushion his fall and instead hit the rim of the tank, fatally injuring him. -
15. Webster Wagner
Webster Wagner invented the sleeper car for the New York Central Railroad. In 1882, two trains collided in the Bronx. Wagner’s body was found crushed between two of the sleeper cars of his own design. -
16. Mike Hughes
Mike Hughes was a daredevil known for building and riding in steam rockets. His goal was to get high enough to prove that the Earth was flat. During a launch in 2020, the parachute detached from his rocket, and Hughes died in the crash.
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Ismail ibn Hammad al-Jawhari
Ismail ibn Hammad al-Jawhari was a Kazakh Turkic scholar who invented a new ‘flying machine’ in the early 11th century. The machine consisted of two wooden wings and a rope. To test his machine, he jumped from the roof of a mosque and fell to his death.
Ismail ibn Hammad al-Jawhari was a Kazakh Turkic scholar who invented a new ‘flying machine’ in the early 11th century. The machine consisted of two wooden wings and a rope. To test his machine, he jumped from the roof of a mosque and fell to his death.
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