16 inventors who were killed by their own inventions

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Inventions push mankind forward scientifically and economically.

Unsurprisingly, it is the inventor who is often the early tester of those inventions. And some of those inventions pose deadly risks.

With the help of Wikipedia, we compiled a short list of brilliant engineers, scientists, and old-fashioned daredevils who fell victim to their own ideas.

1. The co-founder of the Stanley Motor Carriage Company crashed his automobile into a woodpile.

Francis Edgar Stanley and his twin brother invented the Stanley Steamer automobile in 1896. They broke the world record for the fastest mile in 1906 at 28.2 seconds, meaning that their car went 127 mph.

In 1918, the two brothers sold their Stanley Motor business. Later that year, Francis was driving his car when he veered sharply, hoping to avoid an obstacle. The car crashed into a woodpile, and his car overturned.

Source: The Stanley Museum

2. The first hot air balloonist died while crossing the English Channel.

Jean-Françoise Pilâtre de Rozier volunteered for the first human hot air balloon flight in 1783 because "there was no way" he "was going to let this honor go to an artisan." The flight propelled him into international stardom.

Later on, two others became the first to cross the English Channel by hot air balloon and became the new international superstars.

Pilâtre de Rozier, envious that he was no longer the center of attention, created the Rozière balloon to solve the problems faced by the previous guys. But something mysterious went wrong during his attempt at crossing the English Channel, and he died during the flight.

Source: Ultimate History

3. Scientists working in a secret New Mexico laboratory called "Omega Site" received lethal doses of radiation from the core of a plutonium bomb.

In 1946, eight scientists including Louis Slotin (who previously worked on the Manhattan project) and S. Allan Kline were working on an "action that would bring into close proximity the two halves of a beryllium-coated sphere and convert the plutonium to a critical state."

Slotin and the team had performed this experiment over 24 times by that point, but this specific time a screwdriver that was keeping the two halves from touching slipped, causing a lethal burst of radiation. Slotin died in nine days.

Source: New York Times