List of inventors killed by their own inventions

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Franz Reichelt (d. 1912) jumped off the Eiffel Tower expecting this contraption to act as a parachute. Flying tailor.png
Franz Reichelt (d. 1912) jumped off the Eiffel Tower expect­ing this con­trap­tion to act as a parachute .

This is a list of inventors whose deaths were in some manner caused by or related to a product, process, procedure, or other innovation that they invented or designed.

Contents

Direct casualties

Art

Automotive

Aviation

Chemistry

Industrial

Maritime

Submarine H. L. Hunley. Conrad Wise Chapman - Submarine Torpedo Boat H.L. Hunley, Dec. 6, 1863.jpg
Submarine H. L. Hunley.

Medical

Publicity and entertainment

Railway

Rocketry

Perillos being pushed into his brazen bull Pierre Woeiriot Phalaris.jpg
Perillos being pushed into his brazen bull

See also

Related Research Articles

Invention Novel device, material or technical process

An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition or process. The invention process is a process within an overall engineering and product development process. It may be an improvement upon a machine or product or a new process for creating an object or a result. An invention that achieves a completely unique function or result may be a radical breakthrough. Such works are novel and not obvious to others skilled in the same field. An inventor may be taking a big step toward success or failure.

Wright brothers American aviation pioneers, inventors of the airplane

The Wright brothersOrville and Wilbur – were two American aviation pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flying the world's first successful motor-operated airplane. They made the first controlled, sustained flight of a powered, heavier-than-air aircraft with the Wright Flyer on December 17, 1903, 4 mi (6 km) south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The brothers were also the first to invent aircraft controls that made fixed-wing powered flight possible.

Garrett Morgan American inventor and entrepreneur

Garrett Augustus Morgan, Sr. was an African-American inventor, businessman, and community leader. His most notable inventions were a three-position traffic signal and a smoke hood notably used in a 1916 tunnel construction disaster rescue. Morgan also discovered and developed a chemical hair-processing and straightening solution. He created a successful company based on his hair product inventions along with a complete line of hair-care products, and became involved in the civic and political advancement of African-Americans, especially in and around Cleveland, Ohio.

Otto Lilienthal German aviation pioneer

Karl Wilhelm Otto Lilienthal was a German pioneer of aviation who became known as the "flying man". He was the first person to make well-documented, repeated, successful flights with gliders. Newspapers and magazines published photographs of Lilienthal gliding, favourably influencing public and scientific opinion about the possibility of flying machines becoming practical. On 9 August 1896, his glider stalled and he was unable to regain control. Falling from about 15 m (50 ft), he broke his neck and died the next day.

Aurel Vlaicu 19/20th-century Romanian engineer and aviator

Aurel Vlaicu was a Romanian engineer, inventor, airplane constructor and early pilot.

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1910:

This is a list of aviation-related events during the 19th century :

Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier French pioneer balloonist

Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier was a French chemistry and physics teacher, and one of the first pioneers of aviation. He and François Laurent d'Arlandes made the first manned free balloon flight on 21 November 1783, in a Montgolfier balloon. He later died when his balloon crashed near Wimereux in the Pas-de-Calais during an attempt to fly across the English Channel. He and his companion, Pierre Romain, thus became the first known fatalities in an air crash.

Alan Blumlein English electronics engineer

Alan Dower Blumlein was an English electronics engineer, notable for his many inventions in telecommunications, sound recording, stereophonic sound, television and radar. He received 128 patents and was considered one of the most significant engineers and inventors of his time.

Luminous paint Paint glowing in the dark

Luminous paint or luminescent paint is paint that exhibits luminescence. In other words, it gives off visible light through fluorescence, phosphorescence, or radioluminescence. There are three types of luminous paints: fluorescent paint, phosphorescent paint and radioluminescent paint.

Archibald Low English engineer, physicist, inventor and author

Archibald Montgomery Low developed the first powered drone aircraft. He was the an English consulting engineer, research physicist and inventor, and author of more than 40 books.

<i>Read or Die</i> (OVA) Original video animation based on the manga of the same name by Hideyuki Kurata

Read or Die is an OVA based on the manga of the same name by Hideyuki Kurata. It was created by Studio Deen in early 2001 and distributed outside Japan by Manga Entertainment in 2003. The series, directed by Koji Masunari, features the main characters of the original manga such as Yomiko Readman and Joker. It is a continuation of the manga storyline, taking place a few years after the events of the manga.

The death ray or death beam was a theoretical particle beam or electromagnetic weapon first theorized around the 1920s and 1930s. Around that time, notable inventors such as Guglielmo Marconi, Nikola Tesla, Harry Grindell Matthews, Edwin R. Scott, Erich Graichen and others claimed to have invented it independently. In 1957, the National Inventors Council was still issuing lists of needed military inventions that included a death ray.

Brazen bull Torture device

The brazen bull, also known as the bronze bull, Sicilian bull, or bull of Phalaris, was allegedly a torture and execution device designed in ancient Greece. According to Diodorus Siculus, recounting the story in Bibliotheca historica, Perilaus of Athens invented and proposed it to Phalaris, the tyrant of Akragas, Sicily, as a new means of executing criminals. The bull was said to be hollow and made entirely out of bronze with a door in one side. According to legends the brazen bull was designed in the form and size of an actual bull and had an acoustic apparatus that converted screams into the sound of a bull. The condemned were locked inside the device, and a fire was set under it, heating the metal until the person inside was roasted to death. Some modern scholars question if the brazen bull ever really existed, attributing reports of the invention to early propaganda.

Aerowagon Soviet railcar powered by aircraft engine

The Aerowagon or Aeromotowagon was an experimental high-speed railcar fitted with an aircraft engine and propeller traction invented by Valerian Abakovsky, a Soviet engineer from Latvia. It produced speeds of up to 140 kilometres per hour. The Aerowagon was originally intended to carry Soviet officials.

Omar Fakhri

Dr. Omar Fakhri - الدكتور عمر فخري – B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D. FRCPath is a medical scientist who is best known for his research in several areas: the role of vitamin K in treating hemorrhagic diathesis in children, the cooperation between antibodies and lymphocytes and their role in immune response, the use of peritoneal macrophages in the treatment of resistant infections in leukemia patients, the effect of electroconvulsive therapy on diabetes and the use of low voltage electrotherapy in the treatment of resistant skin burns, psoriasis, exophthalmos, aplastic anaemia and other diseases.

Maurice Ward British hairdresser and inventor mainly known for the invention of Starlite a thermal insulator

Maurice Ward was an English inventor best known for his invention of Starlite, a thermal shielding material. He was a former hairdresser from Hartlepool, County Durham, England. Ward believed he should not sell his material directly or allow unsupervised research due to the potential for reverse engineering, and he maintained that he should keep 51% ownership of the formula for Starlite because he valued the material to be worth billions; this is believed to have stunted its commercial success. The formulation for Starlite, a technology which might have revolutionised the world of aerospace and materials science, may have been lost with his passing, although, he hinted during a radio talk show interview that his family might hold information relating to the invention. Starlite was reported to have been acquired by Thermashield, LLC from Ward's family in 2013.

A Vlaicu III

The A Vlaicu III was the world's first metal-built aircraft, designed and built in Romania prior to World War I. It was the third powered aircraft designed by pioneering Romanian aviator Aurel Vlaicu.

Michael Hughes, popularly known as "Mad" Mike Hughes, was an American limousine driver, professed flat-earther, and daredevil known for flying in self-built steam rockets. He died on February 22, 2020, while filming a stunt for an upcoming Science Channel television series.

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Further reading