20 Inventors Who Were KILLED by Their Own Inventions

20 Inventors Killed by Their Own Inventions

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’ll be looking at the most tragic instances in which creators of certain products lost their lives, either directly or indirectly, as a result of their own inventions.

Abu Nasr al-Jawhari

Wooden Wings
Born in the city of Otrar, now in Kazakhstan, Abu Nasr al-Jawhari is best remembered for his work in lexicography, and for authoring an Arabic dictionary that became widely used in the medieval era. But Al-Jawhari wasn’t just a wordsmith, he also had a serious fascination with flight. Inspired by the wings of birds, he designed a wooden glider, and became convinced that his prototype would grant him the ability to fly. In order to demonstrate this, Al-Jawhari took his pair of wooden wings and climbed up the roof of a mosque in Nishapur, in modern-day Iran. Unfortunately, when he jumped, his wings failed to cooperate, and he tragically fell to his death.

Sabin Arnold von Sochocky

Luminescent Paint
In 1908, Austrian scientist Dr. Sabin Arnold von Sochocky developed the luminescent paint, which contained the highly radioactive element, Radium. After moving to the U.S., he founded the United States Radium Corporation, churning out glow-in-the-dark paint for wristwatches, clocks and aircraft instruments. However, this company soon found itself glowing for all the wrong reasons. Workers started falling sick and dying from radium poisoning, which led to a flurry of lawsuits. The hazardous effects of the luminescent paint wasn’t limited to the factory floor, however, it also crept up to the man at the top. Due to being exposed to his own radioactive invention, von Sochocky developed aplastic anemia and died in November 1928.

Michael Robert Dacre

AVCEN Jetpod
British aviation entrepreneur Michael Robert Dacre had a dream: to create a smaller, quieter aircraft for quick and affordable flights between major cities. He called it the Jetpod. This plane was designed to fly at lower altitudes and only needed minimal runway space for takeoff and landing. However, in August 2009, tragedy struck during a test flight in Malaysia. According to eyewitnesses, the entrepreneur had struggled to get the prototype off the ground, only managing to do so on his fourth attempt. Sadly, once in the air, the Jetpod reportedly took a sharp veer to the left before crashing to the ground and killing Dacre, who was the sole individual on board.

Aurel Vlaicu

A Vlaicu II Powered Airplane
Throughout his life, Romanian engineer Aurel Vlaicu designed and built three airplanes and one glider. His second airplane, the A Vlaicu II, brought him a lot of renown, winning prizes at aviation competitions and successfully completing several demonstration flights. But the same aircraft also led to his demise. On September 13th 1913, Vlaicu attempted to fly across the Carpathian Mountains with the A Vlaicu II, aiming to be the first person to do so. However, the aircraft encountered problems during landing and crashed in the mountainous range, killing Vlaicu instantly. Although he failed to achieve this record, Vlaicu is still celebrated as a national hero in Romania for his contributions to aviation.

Karel Soucek

Shock-Absorbent Barrel
Canadian stuntman Karel Soucek was a legend, even among his fellow daredevils. He gained notoriety in 1984 by going over Niagara Falls in a self-constructed barrel. This barrel was heavily padded and Soucek claimed it could withstand the shock of such a massive drop. In 1985, he put his invention to the test again, this time with a 180-foot drop from the top of the Houston Astrodome. Even the iconic Evel Knievel advised Soucek against it, but he wouldn’t back down. The plan was to drop him into a water tank to break his fall. However, the barrel struck the rim of the tank, causing severe injuries to his head, chest and abdomen. Soucek died shortly after at the hospital.

Henry Smolinski

AVE Mizar Flying Car
In the 20th century, many sci-fi movies predicted that flying cars would be the norm someday. Aeronautic engineer Henry Smolinski was determined to make that fantasy a reality. In 1973, Smolinski unveiled the AVE Mizar, which combined the wings of a Cessna Skymaster with a Ford Pinto’s body, and was designed to fly and drive. Smolinski believed this innovation would revolutionize transportation, but tragically, it cost him his life. During a test flight in September 1973, the Mizar’s wing failed when Smolinski tried to make a turn. As a result, it crashed to the ground, killing Smolinski and his co-founder, Harold Blake. This marked the end of the AVE Mizar, having never completed a single successful flight.

Luis Jiménez

Blue Mustang Sculpture
If you’ve ever been to Denver International Airport, you’ve probably seen the massive horse sculpture, located just outside the facility. This is Blue Mustang, a fiberglass masterpiece created by graphic artist Luis Jiménez. Sadly, Jiménez never had the opportunity to see the piece get unveiled on February 11th 2008. That’s because in June 2006, while working on Blue Mustang, a large section of the sculpture fell from a hoist and pinned him against a steel support beam. This accident severed an artery in his leg, tragically causing him to bleed out on the floor of his studio in Hondo, New Mexico. The sculpture was completed after Jiménez’s death and stands as a symbol of his incredible talent.

William Nelson

Motorized Bicycle
Back in 1903, William Nelson was a promising 24-year-old inventor who worked with General Electric in Schenectady, New York. Nelson had come up with some pretty innovative designs, one of which was a motor attachment for a regular bicycle. He likely envisioned that this would make cycling a lot easier for riders. On October 3rd of that year, the young inventor took his prototype out for a spin around a hill opposite his father-in-law’s home. However, that would prove to be his last ride. During his test run, Nelson fell from the motorized bicycle and died on the spot.

Otto Lilienthal

Glider
German engineer Otto Lilienthal always dreamt of flying. In 1891, he made that dream a reality. After years of studying bird flight, Lilienthal used his research to develop a glider, which he used to take to the skies. Over time, he continuously tweaked his design, completing over 2,000 successful flights. This achievement earned him global recognition as the “father of flight,” but it eventually came at the ultimate price. While in the air on August 9th 1896, Lilienthal’s glider stalled, causing him to fall 15 meters to the ground. He broke his neck as a result and passed away the following day. Despite his untimely death, Lilienthal’s groundbreaking work inspired the Wright brothers to build the world’s first successful airplane.

Louis Slotin

Plutonium Core
After training as a physicist and chemist, Canadian scientist Louis Slotin became a research associate at the University of Chicago in 1937. Later, he joined the top-secret Manhattan Project, helping to create the atomic bombs used in World War II. Slotin focused on developing the plutonium sphere known as the Demon Core, which was initially intended for a third nuclear strike on Japan before their surrender. On May 21st 1946, after the war had ended, Slotin was demonstrating a procedure on the Demon Core when his screwdriver slipped, triggering a burst of hard radiation. Of everyone in the room, Slotin was hit the hardest. He was rushed to the hospital, where he died nine days later.

Sylvester H. Roper

Roper Steam Velocipede
Born in Francestown, New Hampshire, Sylvester H. Roper was a trailblazer when it came to the subject of motor vehicles, and more specifically, motorcycles and automobiles. Roper created what is often considered one of the first motorcycles, the roper steam velocipede. It was while riding this steam-powered land vehicle in 1896 that spectators noticed Roper wobbling upon it at a considerable 40 miles per hour, only for him to fall off and suffer a head wound following several laps. He was found dead at the scene, with an autopsy revealing heart failure as the cause of death, though whether his loss of balance was a catalyst for the stress on his heart or if his heart failed prior to the crash is unknown.

Horace Lawson Hunley

Hand-Cranked Submarine
During the American Civil War, Horace Lawson Hunley served as a Confederate marine engineer and he invented various forms of hand-powered submarines to use in battle against Union troops. Unfortunately, during a routine exercise in 1863, one of his submarines took on too much water and sank, killing all men inside, including Hunley. This submarine, called the H. L. Hunley, after its inventor, was eventually raised and became the first sub to sink an enemy vessel in naval history, so at least his death wasn’t completely in vain.

Henry Winstanley

Eddystone Lighthouse
This English painter and engineer had such a thing for mechanical and hydraulic gadgets that most of the county of Essex knew about it. He indulged in this fascination by ensuring he was always surrounded by mechanisms that he designed and constructed – and the Eddystone lighthouse was no exception. After becoming a merchant and losing two ships on the Eddystone Rocks, Henry Winstanley had the lighthouse built with lavish decorations and a glass lantern-room in 1696. However, his death is perhaps proof that you must think before you speak; in 1703, after previously proclaiming his wish to witness the greatest storm there ever was from inside of it, the Great Storm of Southern England destroyed the lighthouse – and killed him along with it.

Max Valier

Rocket-Powered Car
Automobile inventions are definitely at the forefront of accidental deaths, taking the lives of Fred Duesenberg, Henry Smolinski, Francis Edgar Stanley, and Valerian Abakovsky, just to name a few. Max Valier’s self-named Valier-Heylandt Rak 7 was the first successful rocket car to run with liquid propulsion. Unfortunately, that liquid was alcohol-based, and less than a month after his successful Rak 7 run, while making tests for a rocket engine, a canister of it exploded on his workbench in Berlin. Valier was killed within minutes on that day in 1930. Today, he is remembered as one of the brilliant individuals who helped pave the way for spaceflight.

Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier

Rozière Balloon
Considered one of the first pioneers of aviation, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier was a notable French physics and chemistry teacher. De Rozier is perhaps best known as the man who made the first manned free balloon flight, along with the Marquis d’Arlandes. Unfortunately, his ambition got the best of him, and he crashed while attempting to fly his Roziere balloon across the English Channel in 1785. The hydrogen-hot air balloon deflated in midair, and he and his companion fell 1,500 feet to their deaths. The crash gave these men the distinction of becoming some of the first fatalities of an air crash.

William Bullock

Web Rotary Press
While Richard March Hoe invented the rotary printing press in 1843, William Bullock made numerous additions to it and made it his own. This included automatic paper feeding rather than laborious paper pushing. Unfortunately, his additions proved his demise, as he kicked a driving belt onto a pulley of his web rotary press and got his leg stuck, which eventually led to gangrene. He finally died during an operation to amputate his leg a few days later.

Thomas Midgley Jr.

Pulley System
Thomas Midgley Jr. was a renowned chemist and mechanical engineer, perhaps best known for his involvement with the addition of a compound known as Tetraethyllead, or TEL, to gasoline. After a successful career, Midgley, Jr. was diagnosed with poliomyelitis, a disease which left him bedridden and unable to move. As a solution to his problems, he devised a complex pulley system that would help others lift him out of bed. This genius invention unfortunately led to his death in 1940, as he was ultimately strangled by its strings.

Franz Reichelt

Parachute Suit
Franz Reichelt was a trailblazer of aviation safety, most famous for his ill-advised jump off Paris’ Eiffel Tower in order to test his full body parachute in 1912. After numerous unsuccessful tests from his apartment using a dummy, Reichelt decided to test a parachute he designed and refined himself, and what better way to do that than jumping from the Eiffel Tower? After multiple attempts to dissuade, a hesitant Reichelt jumped and landed square on his face on the icy Paris ground, and died on the scene, even though spectators rushed him to hospital.

Stockton Rush

OceanGate’s Titan Submersible
In 2009, Stockton Rush founded OceanGate, aiming to make deep sea travel accessible to the public. Throughout 2021 and 2022, OceanGate organized several trips to the wreck of the Titanic with their submersible, Titan, at a steep price of $250,000 per person. For the first expedition of 2023, the Titan carried three tourists, one crew member and Rush himself as the pilot. However, nearly two hours after departing, the submersible lost contact with its mother ship and was never heard from again. It was later determined that it had imploded during descent, instantly killing everyone on board. Ironically, the Titanic, whose wreckage they sought to explore, also claimed the life of its designer, Thomas Andrews Jr., when it sank on April 15th 1912.

Marie Curie

Polonium & Radium
Perhaps the most accomplished discoverer on this list, Marie Curie was a trailblazer in the field of radioactivity and is the only scientist in history to win two Nobel Prizes for two separate sciences. Her discovery of polonium and radium eventually proved to be her demise, however, as she died from aplastic anemia due to her constant exposure to radiation in 1934. The negative health effects were simply not known at the time, and the papers documenting her work are considered too radioactive to handle even to this day.

Which of these ultimate sacrifices do you think was worth it in the end? Let us know in the comments below.