20 Historical Figures Who Died Because of Their Own Inventions

Franz Reichelt was a tailor who had made it his mission to create a parachute suit for aviators. In 1912, he tested it himself by jumping from the Eiffel Tower, even though, according to some sources, he should have used a mannequin instead. The parachute tore immediately, and Reichelt was killed in full view of witnesses and on camera. 

Otto Lilienthal was one of the great pioneers of aviation, and his experiments with gliders helped shape the future of flight. He built and flew his own gliders, demonstrating that it was possible to glide in a controlled manner even before the advent of powered aircraft. In 1896, he crashed during a glider flight and died from his injuries. 

Percy Pilcher was a British aviation pioneer who had built several gliders and hoped to develop a powered aircraft. Before he was able to demonstrate the powered aircraft he had designed, he flew one of his gliders at a public event. The glider crashed, and Pilcher died from his injuries in 1899. 

Marie Curie discovered polonium and radium, studied radioactivity for decades, and worked closely with radioactive materials at a time when their dangers were not yet fully understood. Without modern protective measures, this prolonged exposure eventually took a toll on her health. In 1934, she died of aplastic anemia, a disease widely associated with exposure to radiation from the very field she had helped to create.

Thomas Harris was a British aeronaut who invented a gas relief valve designed to make it easier to control a balloon’s descent. In 1824, he was killed after the device released too much gas during a flight. The balloon crashed, and Harris was killed.

Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier was a pioneer of ballooning and one of the first to view flight as much more than just a spectacle. He helped develop the Rozière hybrid balloon, which was powered by both hot air and hydrogen. In 1785, while attempting to cross the English Channel, his balloon caught fire and crashed. 

Valerian Abakovsky built the Aerowagon, an experimental high-speed railcar powered by an aircraft engine and a propeller. Designed to transport Soviet officials quickly, the Aerowagon derailed in 1921 during a test run, killing Abakovsky and several passengers. 

Horace Lawson Hunley helped develop the first Confederate submarines during the American Civil War. His most famous vessel, later renamed the H.L. Hunley, was a manually propelled submarine designed to attack Union ships. In 1863, Hunley took part in a test run, during which the submarine sank, resulting in the deaths of the crew and himself. 

Henry Winstanley designed and built the first Eddystone Lighthouse off the coast of Devon, England. He had such confidence in the structure’s sturdiness that he reportedly wished to be there during the worst storm imaginable. In 1703, the Great Storm destroyed the lighthouse while Winstanley was inside it with several other people. 

John Day was an English carpenter and wheelwright who built an experimental diving chamber. In 1774, he tested it by diving underwater, hoping to prove that a person could survive inside this airtight device. The chamber failed, and Day lost his life during the attempt. His invention, intended for exploring the depths, became his tomb.

Max Valier was an Austrian pioneer in aerospace engineering who helped advance early experiments in the field of rocket propulsion. He worked on rocket-powered cars and later on liquid-fuel rocket engines—technologies that were extremely dangerous at the time. Unfortunately, in 1930, an alcohol-fueled rocket exploded on his test stand in Berlin, killing him. 

Henry Smolinski co-founded Advanced Vehicle Engineers and helped design the AVE Mizar, a flying car built from a Ford Pinto and aircraft components, which proved to be as risky as it looked. In 1973, Smolinski was killed during a test flight when the prototype crashed.

Stockton Rush, co-founder of OceanGate, died in 2023 when the Titan submersible imploded during a dive to the wreck of the Titanic. Rush had helped design and promote this experimental submersible, whose unconventional design had drawn criticism from some experts prior to the disaster. He was at the controls of the submersible when it failed, resulting in the deaths of all five people on board. 

Thomas Midgley Jr. is often remembered for his inventions, which had a huge impact on the environment, but his death was caused by a much more personal device. After polio left him disabled, he had devised a system of ropes and pulleys to help him get out of bed. In 1944, he became entangled in the device and died by strangulation. 

Karel Soucek was a Canadian daredevil who had designed a custom barrel for performing extreme stunts. He had survived a descent down Niagara Falls in 1984—which would have been the perfect time to retire the barrel with dignity—but instead, he put it back into service. The following year, during a stunt at the Astrodome in Houston, his barrel missed the center of the pool and struck the edge. Soucek died from his injuries.

Michael Dacre was a British entrepreneur in the aviation industry who was developing a flying taxi concept called the Jetpod. The project aimed to provide short-distance urban air travel, which seemed both futuristic and practical on paper; however, in 2009, he was killed during a test flight of the vehicle in Malaysia. 

Sylvester H. Roper built steam-powered vehicles, including one of the first steam-powered velocipedes, which helped pave the way for motorcycles. In 1896, while riding one of his machines during a public speed trial, he had an accident after, according to some sources, suffering a heart attack. Accounts differ as to whether the accident caused the heart attack or vice versa, but in any case, it was his own steam-powered creation that accompanied him on his final journey. 

William Nelson worked for General Electric and had developed a prototype motorized bicycle. In 1903, he took the vehicle for a test ride. He fell off and was killed, becoming one of the first victims of motorized personal transportation. 

David Ogle designed the Ogle SX1000, a small British sports car based on the Mini. In 1962, while driving one of these models, he lost control of the vehicle and was involved in an accident. The accident claimed his life, bringing an end to the career of a designer whose car had attracted attention thanks to its sleek fiberglass body.

Aurel Vlaicu was a Romanian aviation pioneer who designed and built his own airplanes. In 1913, he attempted to fly across the Carpathian Mountains in the A. Vlaicu II. The plane crashed, killing him instantly before he could complete his flight.