Page 24 - GK Class 08

20 Inventors Died Due to Inventions

When we try out something new there is always a risk lurking around the corner.
Sometimes these risks can prove to be fatal as was the case for some inventors. The
creation of these inventors proved to be their ultimate downfall. But they will always

be remembered in history as they contributed to the progress of all mankind before
losing their lives.

Many scientists made many new inventions and put their lives to risk. Name the
following great inventors who took the risk and died on their own hands.

Referred as flying tailor, he jumped off the Eiffel Tower wearing his
home-made parachute but destiny had already decided an unfortunate
fate for his very first flight. The police authorities had assumed that
Franz would use a dummy to demonstrate his custom designed
parachute and they gave him the permission. Instead, he took the job
himself and become one of the people who’o inventions took their lives.

1

She was a French-Polish physicist and chemist who is famous for
discovering a host of new elements including radium and polonium as
well as the theory of radioactivity. She carried test-tubes containing
radioactive elements in her pocket and carried out her experiments in a
shed without any safety measures. She died from aplastic anaemia
contracted from exposure to radiation.

2

He was a famous English lighthouse architect and engineer. He
constructed the first Eddy Stone Lighthouse. To test its strength, he
remained inside it during a storm. The lighthouse collapsed killing him
and five other people.
3

He was a machine engineer in the confederate states of America. He
was the inventor of the first war submarine. During a routine test he,
along with a 7 member crew, sunk to death in a previously damaged
submarine H. L. Hunley (named after Hunley’s death) on October 15,
1963. The submarine was later reused in the successful sinking of the
USS Housatonic in 1964.
4

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