Who are the 10 inventors who died with their own inventions?
There are such inventors that their own inventions took them away from this life. Here are 10 inventors who died with their own inventions…
Thomas Andrews
In fact, although we do not know Thomas Andrews by name, we know him very well. Because he is the chief engineer of the Titanic ship. During the construction process, it was determined that the Titanic should be double-walled, and the ship was designed in this way. He also wanted 46 lifeboats on board. However, due to budget constraints, 20 lifeboats were placed on the ship. On April 15, 1912, it was feared that the Titanic crashed into an iceberg and sank. Andrews, who helped evacuate dozens of people, refused to leave the ship and was plunged into cold waters by his own invention.
William Bullock
William Bullock is the inventor who invented the first printing press. However, his invention caused his tragic death. Bullock, if you wanted to install the machine, he got his leg caught in the machine. His leg, which got stuck in the machine, soon became gangrene. He was operated on April 12, 1867, for the urgent amputation of his leg, but things did not go well. The unfortunate inventor died due to complications during the operation.
Louis Slotin
Our current inventor is an American nuclear physicist. Slotin was one of the employees of the Manhattan Project, which started to produce nuclear weapons during the Second World War. After the war, he continued his trials. But the last one ended in disaster. While working on plutonium, he accidentally started a fusion reaction, which caused a large amount of radiation to be released. Although he realized his mistake and put on protective clothing, this trial was his end. He died two weeks after the incident.
Sylvester H. Roper
Roper is the inventor of the world's first motorcycle. He actually integrated a steam engine into a bicycle. Unlike today's motorcycles, it is more called velespit because it has a steam engine and pedals. Unfortunately, this great invention was the end of Roper. He died in an accident during his test drive in June 1896. The cause of death was determined as a heart attack, but it is still unknown whether it happened before or after the accident.
Marie Curie
Marie Curie, who has become an icon of the world of science, was a chemist and physicist who received two Nobel prizes. Curie, the inventor of radiography and X-ray, was frequently exposed to radioactive materials in his work. Curie, who had blood cancer after a while, died in the sanatorium on 14 July 1934. Curie, who actually had blood cancer from exposure to radiation, didn't know that. Because at that time, the effect of radiation was not yet known. His work, which led him to receive two Nobels, was actually slowly preparing his end.
Max Valier
Max Valier, the inventor of solid and liquid fuel rockets, fell victim to his success. The Australian rocket scientist decided to invent a rocket-powered vehicle, relying on his successes. He built the vehicle as he wanted, but he wanted to develop it further and decided to use alcohol as a caustic agent. However, things did not go quite as expected. In the experiment using alcohol, the engine exploded and the rocket landed on Valier's face. The unfortunate inventor burned to death and died at the scene.
Alexander Bogdanov
Alexander Bogdanov was doing research on medicine and philosophy. He developed an anti-aging blood transfusion and discovered that his invention stopped vision problems and hair loss in his subjects. In his next study, he decided to use himself as a subject. However, things did not go well. In a blood transfusion, he tried on himself, he contracted malaria and tuberculosis bacteria from his student. This brought his end and he died in 1928.
Thomas Midgley Jr.
Midgley was an engineer and chemist who discovered tetraethyl lead and chlorofluorocarbon. He went down in history as the person who caused the most damage to the atmosphere because of these two inventions he put into use. But do you think it's unfortunate, Midgley died because of an invention he made himself? After the age of 51, he had polio and became paralyzed. He designed a pulley system to automatically lift and lay on the bed. That machine is dead. He was strangled to death by being caught in the ropes of the pulley system.
Henry Smolinski
Successful engineer Smolinski, who designed jet planes and rockets, wanted to design flying cars in the early 197's. Instead of designing everything from scratch in the flying car, he designed lightweight removable wings and tails that fit any car. He used a Cessna twin-engine airplane and a Ford Pinto car in his prototype, which he named Aircar. The trial in 1973 resulted in his death. The engine and right wing of the Aircar were displaced due to a connection error and the flying vehicle crashed to the ground.
Wan Hu
Our last inventor is Wan Hu, who wanted to go to space. Hu, who lived in the 16th century, developed an invention to go into space. He placed fireworks, which the Chinese used for entertainment purposes, under a chair made of bamboo. He started his experiment with 47 fireworks and 47 people who would fire these fireworks. There was a big explosion when the cartridges were fired. No one has seen Wan Hu and his chair since then. More people believe that Wan Hu flew to the moon rather than burned to the ground. In fact, a crater on the Moon was named Wan-Hoo, based on this legend.