From the moment the great Archimedes leapt from his bath yelling "Eureka!", slipped on the soapy floor and ruptured his spleen, inventors have been injuring themselves.
Scientists are meant to drive forward the wheel of technological progress, not be crushed under its inexorable tread, killed by their own creations.
Leonardo Da Vinci drew up plans for a helicopter in 1493. But he didn’t attempt to pilot it and so plummet to his death, did he? This lot should have learned from that. Take a look at the inventors killed by their own inventions.
World's unluckiest man
American chemist Thomas Midgley (1889-1944) invented both leaded petrol and CFCs. Not only were both harmful to the planet, the former gave Midgley lead poisoning.
In later life, Midgley contracted polio. Ever resourceful, the disabled and bed-bound scientist constructed an elaborate system of pulleys to lift himself from his repose. One day he duly strangled himself on one of the ropes. Sometimes, you just can't win.
Dive, dive, dive!
Marine engineer Horace Lawson Hunley developed the first hand-powered submarine and named it, immodestly some might say, after himself.
In 1863, he took command of the HL Hunley during a routine exercise. Needless to say, it sank, killing all eight of the crew and the inventor himself.
Almost-flying car
American engineers Henry Smolinski and Harold Blake had a crazy dream. They wanted to build the first flying car, so they bolted the wings of a Cessna light aircraft to the roof of a Ford Pinto, fitted it with cabin controls and named it the Mizar.
The Mizar would transport owners to airports, where they would detach the wings and drive merrily away.
After two years of development, the inventors took the car on a test flight, with Blake piloting. Once aloft, the wings came off, leaving pilot and passenger hurtling towards the ground in a pimped-out Ford Pinto.
Speed kills
At Pendine Sands, Wales, racing driver and engineer John Godfrey Parry-Thomas attempted in 1927 to regain his world land-speed record from Sir Malcolm Campbell, who had broken it weeks earlier.
Parry-Thomas was suffering from a nasty bout of flu at the time but soldiered on. A bout of the sniffles soon proved to be the least of his worries. The exposed chains connecting the engine to the wheels of his car, named Babs, broke at 170mph, hit Parry-Thomas in the neck, and decapitated him.
Bloody mess
Russian physician Alexander Bogdanov pioneered blood transfusions in the 1920s, believing them to be the secret of eternal youth. In 1928 he received his 11th and final transfusion, from one of his students.
Sadly, said student was suffering from both malaria and tuberculosis and Bogdanov promptly dropped dead. Another partial success, then.
And still they try…
Otto Lilienthal, known as the German Glider King, set out in one of his own gliders on August 9 1896. Sadly his gliding reign came to an abrupt end when he fell 17 metres, breaking his spine in the process.
On his death bed one day later, Lilienthal uttered his final words: "Small sacrifices must be made." What, for the greater good of gliding? Now that's a true enthusiast. Eurekaaaargh!
Up, up and... down
Since man could walk, he's longed to reach for the skies. Nobody felt the desire to soar like a bird more than Austrian tailor Franz Reichelt, who designed a parachute-like overcoat that would float its wearer to the ground.
In 1912, Reichelt stood on the first deck of the Eiffel Tower, then the world's tallest building, and showed off his fashionable flying invention.
In front of an expectant crowd and the press, he stepped off and softly wafted to the ground, landing safely. No, of course he didn't; he plummeted to his demise. Want proof? There's a video.
Stiff north-easterly
English engineer Henry Winstanley began work on the first Eddystone Lighthouse, near Plymouth, in 1696. He completed the project three years later and had such unwavering faith in his building he voiced his wish to be inside the lighthouse during "the greatest storm there ever was".
During what became known as The Great Storm of 1703, the under-repair tower was entirely destroyed, with Winstanley and five others still inside. We imagine the moral here is: be very careful what you wish for.
That sinking feeling
Irish-born businessman and master shipbuilder Thomas Andrews Jr was managing director of Harland and Wolff in Belfast. He managed the construction of the RMS Titanic. We all know this story isn't going to end well.
Andrews Jr's design didn't allow the bulkheads of the ship to be sealed off once it started leaking. That critical miscalculation, and a giant iceberg, led to the deaths of 1,517 passengers, including Andrews Jr.
Please drive careful- oh dear
In 1903, 18 years after Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach built the first motorcycle, William Nelson, an employee of General Electric and amateur inventor, designed and built his own motorised bicycle at home.
He considered it to be one of the most powerful bikes of its day. Sadly, he was all too correct, as became apparent when it propelled him straight off a cliff when he took it for a spin one sunny afternoon. "Killed by his own invention," said The New York Times
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