Geniuses who were killed by their own inventions (26 photos)

Many of the things we use every day are the creations of the greatest minds. If it weren’t for these brilliant inventors, we would still be lighting our homes with oil lamps, reading handwritten books, and moving around exclusively on foot. We often don’t think about how scientists achieved the impossible. Some of them patented their achievements, got rich, and lived a happy life, while others paid a huge price in the name of science.





1. Wan Hu



According to legend, in the 16th century, a Chinese official built a flying machine that consisted of two kites, a seat, and 47 rockets. During the launch, an explosion occurred, and Wan Hu was never found.

2. Marie Curie





Curie visited Poland for the last time in early 1934 and died on July 4, 1934, at the age of 66, probably from aplastic anemia caused by exposure to radiation. At that time, the dangers of radiation were not yet known, and she kept radioactive test tubes in her desk and carried them in her pocket. She was also exposed to X-rays during World War I. In 1995, it was suggested that Maria's illness was caused not by exposure to radium, but by the use of X-rays.

3. Georg Wilhelm Richmann



Richmann created a device - an "electrical indicator" - to study atmospheric electricity. On August 6, 1753, the scientist died from a ball lightning strike while conducting an experiment during a severe thunderstorm.

4. Stockton Rush



He was an engineer and entrepreneur who oversaw the design and construction of OceanGate's Titan submersible. On June 18, 2023, while diving to the Titanic, the sub exploded, killing Rush and four other passengers.

Rush once stated, "At some point, safety becomes a waste. If you want to be safe, don't get out of bed, don't get in a car, don't do anything."

5. Henry Smolinski



Smolinski (1933-1973) died during a test flight of the AVE Mizar, a flying car based on the Ford Pinto.

6. Valerian Abakovsky



He designed the "aerowagon," an experimental motorized handcar with an aircraft propeller. On July 24, 1921, the carriage derailed at high speed, killing 7 of the 22 passengers, including Abakovsky.

7. Robert Cocking



Robert Cocking (1776-1837) died when his homemade parachute failed. The cause was a combination of the parachute's heavy weight (about 115 kg) and its fragile design.

8. Thomas Andrews



The chief executive of the Harland and Wolff shipbuilder in Belfast, Ireland, and the designer of the Titanic, was one of the 1,496 people killed when the liner sank on April 15, 1912. His body was never found.

9. Sabin von Sochocki



Sochocki invented radium paint. His company, Radium Luminous Material Corporation, produced luminous watch faces, but workers later sued for radiation exposure. Sochocki also had traces of radium in his body, and died of aplastic anemia in 1928.

10. Carl Wilhelm Scheele



The German and Swedish pharmaceutical chemist was known for his dangerous experiments with toxic substances such as arsenic, mercury, and lead. He often came into contact with these compounds and elements, even tasting and smelling them. This is likely what caused his death at the age of 43 on May 21, 1786.

11. Mary Ward



The Irish scientist, astronomer, and microscopist fell under the wheels of an experimental steam car built by her nephews in 1869. Ward is the first person to die in a traffic accident.

12. Sophie Blanchard



A French balloonist and the wife of pioneering balloonist Jean-Pierre Blanchard. Blanchard faced freezing temperatures, nearly drowned, and lost consciousness multiple times. In 1819, Sophie became the first woman to die in an airplane crash. When she launched a firework, it hit a hot air balloon and caused an explosion. The apparatus fell on the roof of a house, and Sophie did not survive.

13. Louis Slotin



Canadian physicist Louis Slotin (1910-1946) participated in the Manhattan Project. During a dangerous experiment with radioactive materials, he received a lethal dose of 2,100 rem. Despite the efforts of doctors, he died five days later from the intestinal form of acute radiation sickness.

14. Alexander Bogdanov



In 1926, he founded the first Institute of Blood Transfusion in the world in Moscow. Bogdanov died from an acute hemolytic reaction due to Rh incompatibility. He conducted an experimental blood transfusion between himself and a 21-year-old student with tuberculosis. The doctor believed that the young man's blood would rejuvenate his aging body, and that his own blood, immune to tuberculosis, would cure the student.

15. Sylvester Roper



Sylvester Howard Roper (1823-1896) created a prototype motorcycle. On June 1, 1896, he was racing at about 40 mph along the Charles River in his native Boston. After riding a few laps, he fell and suffered a head injury. An autopsy showed that the cause of death was a heart attack. It is unclear whether the heart attack was the cause or the result of the accident.

16. Thomas Midgley



American engineer and chemist invented tetraethyl lead (TEL) for use in gasoline and chlorofluorocarbons (Freon) for use in refrigerators and deodorants. He contracted polio at age 51, which left him disabled. To make it easier to get out of bed, he created a complex system of ropes and pulleys. Unfortunately, he became entangled in the ropes and died of asphyxiation at age 55.

17. Max Valier



As one of the founders of the German Society for Interplanetary Communications, Valier invented liquid-fueled rocket engines. On May 17, 1930, an alcohol-fueled rocket exploded at his test stand in Berlin. Shrapnel wounded Valier in the aorta, and he died almost instantly.

18. Francis Edgar Stanley



The founder of the Stanley Motor Company died in a 1918 accident after losing control of his own automobile.

19. William Bullock



Bullock (1813-1867) invented the rotary printing press. A few years later, while installing a new press in Philadelphia, his leg was crushed. The inventor died during the amputation procedure.

20. Cooper Phipps Coles



He was a captain in the Royal Navy of Great Britain. He died in 1870 along with the crew of the battleship HMS Captain, built according to his design.

21. Pilatre de Rozier



Rozier, together with the Marquis d'Arlandes, was the first to make a free flight in a hot air balloon. Later, during an attempt to cross the English Channel, his balloon crashed near Wimereux in Pas-de-Calais. As a result, Pilatre de Rozier and his assistant Pierre Romain became the first people to die in an aviation accident.

22. Jimmy Heselden



A British entrepreneur bought the Segway company. That same year, he died after falling off a cliff while riding the latest Segway model.

23. William Brodie



According to legend, Brodie built the first gallows in Edinburgh in the 18th century and became its first victim.

24. Webster Wagner



He died in a train accident, trapped between two sleeping cars he had invented.

25. Aurel Vlaicu



On September 13, 1913, Aurel Vlaicu crashed his plane "Vlaicu II" near Campina, Romania, while attempting to be the first to fly across the Carpathian Mountains.