15 Inventions That Caused the Death of Their Creators
Ever dreamed of changing the world with your brilliant invention? Some people did and paid the ultimate price. Sweaters that hate physics, rockets that explode on the test bench, cars that refuse to stay on the ground, and inventors who turned their genius into a one-way ticket to history.
History is full of brilliant minds who ignored safety, common sense, or gravity itself. Some died in explosions, others in crashes, and a few just got strangled by their own creations. The lesson is clear: genius can be deadly.
Here lie the inventions that didn’t just fail spectacularly, they killed the people who made them and made sure the world would never forget.
Bluebird Suicide Run, 1967
Donald Campbell’s Bluebird K7 jet hydroplane disintegrated over Lake Coniston, England at 300 mph, ending his record-breaking attempt in death.
Carpatians Crash, 1913
Aurel Vlaicu crashed his self-designed monoplane near Ploiești, Romania, while attempting to fly across the Carpathians, killing him instantly.
Parachute Sweater, 1912
Franz Reichelt jumped from the Eiffel Tower in Paris to test his homemade parachute, which failed spectacularly and killed him instantly.
Barrel of Regret, 1985
Karel Soucek missed the center of the water tank during his Astrodome capsule demonstration in Houston, dying on impact.
Speed Kills, 1932
Fred Duesenberg crashed his high-speed car in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, turning automotive innovation into a deadly thrill ride.
Glider Goes Down, 1896
Otto Lilienthal fell 15 meters near Berlin when his experimental glider collapsed, ending his life in a deadly flight test.
Blood Experiment, 1928
Alexander Bogdanov in Moscow received an infected transfusion during his rejuvenation experiments, which killed him instantly.
Powdered Immortality, 10th Century
Li-Fang-Fu, a Chinese alchemist, died when his experimental gunpowder mixture exploded while he sought eternal life.
Rocket Explosion, 1930
Max Valier’s liquid-fueled rocket engine blew up in Berlin during a test, turning propulsion ambition into a fatal disaster.
Strangled by Genius, 1944
Thomas Midgley Jr., in Ohio, died when he became entangled in the pulley system he invented to lift himself from bed.
Hydrogen Boom, 1785
Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier perished in Pas-de-Calais, France, when his hydrogen-and-hot-air balloon exploded mid-flight.
Pressed to Death, 1867
William Bullock crushed his foot on his own printing press in Philadelphia, leading to fatal gangrene after trying to adjust it.
Submarine Fail, 1863
Horace Lawson Hunley drowned with his crew in Charleston, South Carolina, while testing the hand-cranked submarine H.L. Hunley.
Madame Radioactive, 1934
Marie Curie died in Sancellemoz, France, from years of handling radioactive materials like radium and polonium, proving science can be deadly.
Flying Car Fiasco, 1973
Henry Smolinski died in Camarillo, California, when a wing detached from his AVE Mizar flying car during a test flight.