10 Inventors Who Were Killed By Their Own Inventions

You cannot just come out with an invention unless you are an out of the box thinker. But, sometimes this out of the box thinking may backfire. For some of the inventors, their inventions proved to be life taking ones. Here is the list of 1o of those inventors.

10- Henry Winstanley

He was the creator of the first ever Eddystone lighthouse. He was very confident about its strength. In order to check the strength of this lighthouse, he stayed inside it during the time of a storm. Unfortunately, the lighthouse couldn’t stand tall in front of the gruelling weather and fell down. Five other people also died along with Winstanley that day.

9-Alexander Bogdanov

Bogdanov was the jack of all trades. He was a renowned physician, philosopher and economist. Writing was also amongst his hobbies. He was conducting scientific experiments for rejuvenation. These experiments involved blood transfusions. He got himself transfused from one his patients who had malaria and TB. These infections took his life eventually.

8-Cowper Phipps Coles

Cowper Phipps Coles is the inventor of rotating turret for ships. He designed a ship named HMS Captain. The creation of this ship demanded several alterations, which were responsible for the rise of its center of gravity. This ship sunk on  6th September 1870, and killed almost 500 persons along with him.

7- Karel Soucek

Kakrel Soucek was the Stuntman from Canada famous for his invention of the modified barrel called the “capsule”. He rode that capsule down the Niagra Falls and survived the fall. In 1985, he  was trying the stunt of barrel drop from from the top of the Houston Astrodome in Texas. The stunt didn’t go according to the plan and he suffered severe injuries leading to his death.

6-Franz Reichelt

Franz Reichelt was a tailor by profession. He belonged to Austria. He gained fame from the parachute made by him. He was of the opinion that it could help him sail swiftly to the ground. He jumped from the Eiffel Tower wearing that parachute, but came straight down. He died at the spot.

5- Otto Lilienthal

Otto Lilienthal is known as the man who introduced the concept of gliding. He made the first successful gliding attempt. Lilienthal unfortunately, fell from a height of 17 meters on 9th August 1896 that broke his spine. He said after the accident that small sacrifices are necessary for the greater goals.

4-William Bullock

Bullock wan an American who revolutionized the printing industry with his invention of a rotary printing press. He was trying to repair one of his printing press one day when his foot got caught up in that. He died during the operation where his gangrenous foot was being amputated.

3- J. G. Parry-Thomas

Godfrey Parry-Thomas was a Welsh motor-racing driver. He made a modified car and called it Babs. It had a drawback that there were exposed chains connecting the wheels to the engines. He died in 1927 while trying to break the land speed record in his car. One of those chains broke suddenly and hit his neck. He died immediately.

2 Thomas Midgley Jr.

Thomas Midgley Jr. was a chemist. He invented leaded petrol and CFCs. Ultimately, he got lead poisoning. He couldn’t move after that, so he made a system of pulleys and ropes to lift him from the bed. He died after being strangled by one of his own pulleys.

1-Marie Curie

Marie Curie was a chemist and physicist. Her contributions to the discovery of numerous elements are matchless. She also gained fame for the theory of radioactivity and the isolation of radioactive isotopes. She died on July 4, 1934 because of aplastic anaemia, which is thought to be contracted from exposure to radiation from radioactive elements.