# Inventions Which Killed Their Creators **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 29, 2008, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-which-killed-their-creators/447334 "2008-04-29T09:36:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-which-killed-their-creators/447334/21 "2008-04-29T23:14:41Z")
I submit to you God, in the form of Jesus. According to the bible he invented man who then killed him. ---
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-which-killed-their-creators/447334/22 "2008-04-29T23:19:22Z")
Dr. Robert Atkins? ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-which-killed-their-creators/447334/23 "2008-04-29T23:42:30Z")
[QUOTE=lobotomyboy63] According to a video I have, Lavoisier told a friend that he would try to blink his eyes when they held his severed head up…and he did, about a dozen times. [/QUOTE] [Probably apocryphal](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=257242) ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-which-killed-their-creators/447334/24 "2008-04-29T23:44:58Z")
Wasn’t one of the Wright brothers killed while demonstrating their airplane ? ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-which-killed-their-creators/447334/25 "2008-04-29T23:50:04Z")
[QUOTE=JohnBckWLD] Dr. Robert Atkins? [/QUOTE] didn’t he die from a fall in the shower? ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-which-killed-their-creators/447334/26 "2008-04-30T00:15:38Z")
[QUOTE=detop] Wasn’t one of the Wright brothers killed while demonstrating their airplane ? [/QUOTE] No, although Orville suffered nasty injuries in a crash. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-which-killed-their-creators/447334/27 "2008-04-30T00:26:29Z")
And Orville’s passenger, Lt. Thomas Selfridge, was killed. There have been way too many “self-taught aeronautical engineers” who didn’t survive the first test flights of their creations. And some serious, pioneering ones, too - Otto Lilienthal in one of his hang gliders is a notable example. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-which-killed-their-creators/447334/28 "2008-04-30T00:55:32Z")
[QUOTE=bonzer] [Probably apocryphal](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=257242) [/QUOTE] [http://www.activefarming.org/6304391579/Guillotine.html](http://www.activefarming.org/6304391579/Guillotine.html) That’s the video I have. IIRC there’s a neurosurgeon who states that the nerves, muscles, etc. for blinking the eyes are all intact after decapitation and it takes 15 seconds or so for the oxygen supply to the brain to be used up. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-which-killed-their-creators/447334/29 "2008-04-30T01:34:44Z")
There’s Seth Brundle whose invention turned him into a fly-man, that ultimately lead to his death. Never drink and teleport. Does [Thomas Andrews](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Andrews_%28shipbuilder%29) count? Shipbuilder of the Titanic. Was on the ship when it, well, I don’t want to spoil it for those who haven’t seen the movie yet… He died when his own ship was overrun by alien “vessels” from the heavens. Using some sort of “Ice-Ray”, the aliens blew several gashes into the side the oceanliner, and it sunk into the depths of the Atlantic. Although, it’s witnessed, most left treading the water were actually abducted by these advanced beings. Could Thomas Andrews still be o_ut there_, somewhere?! We may never know. ---
**Author:** ![chicken\_wire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@chicken\_wire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chicken_wire)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-which-killed-their-creators/447334/30 "2008-04-30T03:52:00Z")
[George Jackson Churchward](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Jackson_Churchward) CBE, renowned chief mechanical engineer of the Great Western Railway (UK) from 1902 to 1922. The designer of many successful classes of steam locomotive, featuring much standardisation of components across classes, was struck and killed by a GWR locomotive. This was some years after his retirement and I’d be interested to learn if it was one of his own design. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-which-killed-their-creators/447334/31 "2008-04-30T04:11:20Z")
[QUOTE=HazelNutCoffee] It’s been awhile since I’ve read the book, but I think the ending is a bit ambiguous - him and his monster sail off together amidst the icebergs, or something of that sort. No villagers involved, pitchfork-wielding or otherwise. [/QUOTE] It’s been a while since I read it, too, but doesn’t the monster also learn to read, and at the end is able to converse in the manner of an educated person? ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-which-killed-their-creators/447334/32 "2008-04-30T04:14:42Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > Another: [Otto Lilienthal - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Lilienthal) > [@Ellef](#): > > I submit Thomas Midgley, killed not by leaded petrol, but by a harness he devised to help him get out of bed So no one is reading the blog linked in the OP? > [@SuperNelson](#): > > Not quite an invention, but Marie Curie was killed by aplastic anemia, most likely due to long term exposure to radiation. Or other posts in this thread? > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > There have been way too many “self-taught aeronautical engineers” who didn’t survive the first test flights of their creations. And some serious, pioneering ones, too - Otto Lilienthal in one of his hang gliders is a notable example. Or neither? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-which-killed-their-creators/447334/33 "2008-04-30T04:18:29Z")
[Horace Lawson Hunley](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Lawson_Hunley), designer of the confederate submarine. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-which-killed-their-creators/447334/34 "2008-04-30T04:24:29Z")
[William Bullock](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bullock_(inventor)), inventor of the web rotary printing press, killed by his own press. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-which-killed-their-creators/447334/35 "2008-04-30T05:45:29Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] It’s been a while since I read it, too, but doesn’t the monster also learn to read, and at the end is able to converse in the manner of an educated person? [/QUOTE] The monster is way more eloquent and articulate than any movie has ever shown and learns to read and write early in the book. As for what happens in the end: Dr Frankenstein chases the monster to the North Pole ice sheet, when he almost gets him he falls in the water and is rescued by an exploration ship. Goes back home (I think) gets sick and dies. The monster goes to visit, breaks the violins, throws a weeping monologue and in shame and remorse goes back to the North Pole where, presumably, it dies. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-which-killed-their-creators/447334/36 "2008-04-30T06:41:19Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] [William Bullock](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bullock_(inventor)), inventor of the web rotary printing press, killed by his own press. [/QUOTE] Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-which-killed-their-creators/447334/37 "2008-04-30T09:00:29Z")
[QUOTE=Morbo] Sigh. [/QUOTE] I think it’s time you to DESTROY THEM!!! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-which-killed-their-creators/447334/38 "2008-04-30T10:35:34Z")
Nobody seems to have mentioned Sir Francis Bacon who is said to have died of frostbite having ‘invented’ the preservation of food via freezing by stuffing a chicken full of snow. It’s not mentioned on Wikipedia - is it simply not true? ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-which-killed-their-creators/447334/39 "2008-04-30T10:40:05Z")
[QUOTE=Staggerlee] Nobody seems to have mentioned Sir Francis Bacon who is said to have died of frostbite having ‘invented’ the preservation of food via freezing by stuffing a chicken full of snow. It’s not mentioned on Wikipedia - is it simply not true? [/QUOTE] We’ll change that when we get home, We’ll change a _lot_ of things. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-which-killed-their-creators/447334/40 "2008-04-30T11:28:19Z")
As I recall, some accounts (although it’s apparently far from a sure matter of record) say that [Johann Conrad Dippel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Conrad_Dippel) died as the result of an alchemical experiment. I thought I remembered reading, somewhere, that the inventor of Phosgene died from exposure to the gas, but I checked it awhile back, and it turns out it isn’t so. (Rather a pity, as it was a good story.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-which-killed-their-creators/447334.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-which-killed-their-creators/447334.md?page=3)