Did You Know These Inventors Got Killed by Their Own Inventions?

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

Name	Nationality	Invention	Year of Death	Cause of Death
☛ Li Si	Chinese	The Five Pains	208 B.C.	He was executed by his own method of execution after being convicted of treason.
☛ James Douglas	Scottish	Scottish Maiden	1581	He was beheaded on the Scottish Maiden he invented.
☛ Henry Winstanley	British	Eddystone Lighthouse	1703	He died in his lighthouse during the Great Storm of 1703.
☛ Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier	French	Rozière Balloon	1785	He died when the balloon crashed while trying to cross the English Channel on its second flight.
☛ Horace Lawson Hunley	American	Submarine named H. L. Hunley	1863	He died in the 2nd failed attempt to use it.
☛ William Bullock	American	Rotary Printing Press	1867	His foot got caught in the press contraption, developed gangrene that led to his death 4 days later.
☛ Cowper Phipps Coles	British	Turret Ship	1870	He died when his ship sunk due to overload.
☛ Otto Lilienthal	German	Hang Glider	1896	He died due to a 56 feet (17 m) fall when his glider lost lift during a flight.
☛ William Nelson	American	Motorized Bicycle	1903	He died when he fell off his motorized bicycle while testing it in General Electric.
☛ Franz Reichelt	Austrian	Overcoat Parachute	1912	His death was due to fall from Eiffel Tower during a demonstration on 4th February.
☛ Thomas Andrews	Irish	Architect of Titanic	1912	He died when the Titanic capsized on its maiden voyage in April.
☛ Aurel Vlaicu	Romanian	Vlaicu II Airplane	1913	He died when his plane crashed on the Carpathian Mountains.
☛ Valerian Abakovsky	Latvian	Aerowagon	1921	He died when the Aerowagon derailed during the test ride.
☛ John Godfrey Parry-Thomas	Welsh	Babs Car	1927	His death occurred when the car's right hand drive chain broke in a race which led to a fatal head injury.
☛ Alexander Bogdanov	Russian	Blood Transfusion	1928	He died when the blood in the 12th transfusion done on himself was contaminated (some say the blood group was incompatible).
☛ Max Valier	German	Liquid-fueled Rocket Engine	1930	He died when one of the liquid-fueled engines exploded on his lab desk.
☛ Marie Curie	Polish	Radium, Polonium and Theory of Radioactivity	1934	She died of aplastic anemia caused due to constant exposure to radioactive elements.
☛ Thomas Midgley, Jr.	American	Mechanical Bed with pulleys	1944	His death was due to lead poisoning and strangulation by ropes on his mechanical bed.
☛ Harry K. Daghlian, Jr.	American	Atom Bomb	1945	They died due to acute radiation caused by lab accidents involving the same plutonium sphere.
☛ Louis Slotin	Canadian	Atom Bomb	1946
☛ Donald M. Campbell	British	Motorboat Speed Engine	1966	He died when his motorboat (with the speed engine) capsized in a race.
☛ Henry Smolinski	American	Flying Car	1973	During a flight, the right wing of the car came off, resulting in a crash and the inventor's death.
☛ Karel Soucek	Canadian	Water Capsule	1985	He succumbed to injuries caused when his capsule capsized on its second test.
☛ Michael Dacre	British	Flying Taxi	2009	He died when his flying taxi crashed during the test flight.
☛ James (Jimi) Heselden	British	Segway Gyrobike (Owner)	2010	He died when he fell off an 80 feet cliff after the Segway scooter he was riding lost balance.

It would be utter cowardice to say that it is better to keep 'thinking' instead of 'doing' just because some were unfortunate enough to pay with their lives for their creativity. Besides, many of the inventions mentioned above have played an important role in the development of man. Maybe the dying words of one such inventor (Otto Lilienthal) best describes the significance of losing a life for an invention - "Sacrifices must be made."