- 7/23/2025
Welcome to WatchMojo.WORLD where we’re counting down the 20 inventors who tragically died because of their own creations. From Michael Robert Dacre and Henry Smolinski to Sylvester H. Roper, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, Stockton Rush, and more, these stories show how innovation can sometimes turn deadly.
Which of these sacrifices do you think was worth it? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Which of these sacrifices do you think was worth it? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Short filmTranscript
00:00At some point, safety just is pure waste. I mean, if you just want to be safe, don't get out of bed, don't get in your car, don't do anything.
00:07Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at the most tragic instances in which creators of certain products lost their lives,
00:14either directly or indirectly, as a result of their own inventions.
00:18Because of this tragic accident that some people believe that Mustang might be cursed, he has locally the nickname Lucifer.
00:25Abu Nasr al-Johari – Wooden Wings
00:29Born in the city of Outrar, now in Kazakhstan, Abu Nasr al-Johari is best remembered for his work in lexicography
00:36and for authoring an Arabic dictionary that became widely used in the medieval era.
00:41But al-Johari wasn't just a wordsmith. He also had a serious fascination with flight.
00:46Inspired by the wings of birds, he designed a wooden glider and became convinced that his prototype would grant him the ability to fly.
00:54In order to demonstrate this, al-Johari took his pair of wooden wings and climbed up the roof of a mosque in Nishapur, in modern-day Iran.
01:02Unfortunately, when he jumped, his wings failed to cooperate, and he tragically fell to his death.
01:09Sabin Arnold von Sakaki – Luminescent Paint
01:12In 1908, Austrian scientist Dr. Sabin Arnold von Sakaki developed the luminescent paint, which contained the highly radioactive element radium.
01:22After moving to the U.S., he founded the United States Radium Corporation, churning out glow-in-the-dark paint for wristwatches, clocks, and aircraft instruments.
01:31However, this company soon found itself glowing for all the wrong reasons.
01:35Workers started falling sick and dying from radium poisoning, which led to a flurry of lawsuits.
01:40The hazardous effects of the luminescent paint were not limited to the factory floor, however, as it also crept up to the man at the top.
01:48Due to being exposed to his own radioactive invention, von Sakaki developed aplastic anemia and died in November 1928.
01:57Michael Robert Dacre – Absinthe JetPod
01:59British aviation entrepreneur Michael Robert Dacre had a dream.
02:03To create a smaller, quieter aircraft for quick and affordable flights between major cities, he called it the JetPod.
02:10This plane was designed to fly at lower altitudes and only needed minimal runway space for takeoff and landing.
02:16However, in August 2009, tragedy struck during a test flight in Malaysia.
02:21According to eyewitnesses, the entrepreneur had struggled to get the prototype off the ground, only managing to do so on his fourth attempt.
02:29Sadly, once in the air, the JetPod reportedly took a sharp veer to the left before crashing to the ground and killing Dacre, who was the sole individual on board.
02:39Aurel Vlaiku – Aurel Vlaiku 2 Powered Airplane
02:43Throughout his life, Romanian engineer Aurel Vlaiku designed and built three airplanes and one glider.
02:49His second airplane, the A-Vlaiku 2, brought him a lot of renown, winning prizes at aviation competitions and successfully completing several demonstration flights.
02:58But the same aircraft also led to his demise.
03:02On September 13, 1913, Vlaiku attempted to fly across the Carpathian Mountains with the A-Vlaiku 2, aiming to be the first person to do so.
03:11However, the aircraft encountered problems during landing and crashed in the mountainous range, killing Vlaiku instantly.
03:17Although he failed to achieve this record, Vlaiku is still celebrated as a national hero in Romania for his contributions to aviation.
03:24Carol Suchek – Shock Absorbent Barrel
03:27Canadian stuntman Carol Suchek was a legend, even among his fellow daredevils.
03:33He gained notoriety in 1984 by going over Niagara Falls in a self-constructed barrel.
03:38Carol Suchek went over Niagara's Horseshoe Falls in a specially designed barrel.
03:43The 37-year-old Hamilton, Ontario motorcycle stuntman estimated that with the 3-4 second drop over the 175-foot falls, he hit the water below at about 75 miles an hour.
03:54This barrel was heavily padded, and Suchek claimed it could withstand the shock of such a massive drop.
03:59In 1985, he put his invention to the test again, this time with a 180-foot drop from the top of the Houston Astrodome.
04:08Even the iconic Evel Knievel advised Suchek against it, but he wouldn't back down.
04:13The plan was to drop him into a water tank to break his fall.
04:16However, the barrel struck the rim of the tank, causing severe injuries to his head, chest, and abdomen.
04:22He had a choice when it came to what he was going to do with his life, and I'm very sad about it. He was a personal friend of mine.
04:28Suchek died shortly after at the hospital.
04:31Henry Smolensky, the AVE Mizar Flying Car
04:35In the 20th century, many sci-fi movies predicted that flying cars would be the norm someday.
04:41Aeronautic engineer Henry Smolensky was determined to make that fantasy a reality.
04:44In 1973, Smolensky unveiled the AVE Mizar, which combined the wings of a Cessna Skymaster with a Ford Pinto's body, and was designed to fly and drive.
04:56Smolensky believed this innovation would revolutionize transportation, but tragically, it cost him his life.
05:02During a test flight in September 1973, the Mizar's wing failed when Smolensky tried to make a turn.
05:08As a result, it crashed to the ground, killing Smolensky and his co-founder Harold Blake.
05:13This marked the end of the AVE Mizar, having never completed a single successful flight.
05:19Luis Jimenez, Blue Mustang Sculpture
05:22If you've ever been to Denver International Airport, you've probably seen the massive horse sculpture located just outside the facility.
05:29This is Blue Mustang, a fiberglass masterpiece created by graphic artist Luis Jimenez.
05:34I'm still working in a very traditional process.
05:37The materials are somewhat different, but the process is all, pretty much the process has been used for centuries.
05:49Sadly, Jimenez never had the opportunity to see the piece get unveiled on February 11, 2008.
05:55That's because in June 2006, while working on Blue Mustang, a large section of the sculpture fell from a hoist and pinned him against a steel support beam.
06:04This accident severed an artery in his leg, tragically causing him to bleed out on the floor of his studio in Hondo, New Mexico.
06:10The sculpture was completed after Jimenez's death and stands as a symbol of his incredible talent.
06:16He's got work in the Met, in the Smithsonian. He's, you know, one of the leaders in contemporary sculpture.
06:22William Nelson, Motorized Bicycle
06:24Back in 1903, William Nelson was a promising 24-year-old inventor who worked with General Electric in Schenectady, New York.
06:32Nelson had come up with some pretty innovative designs, one of which was a motor attachment for a regular bicycle.
06:38He likely envisioned that this would make cycling a lot easier for riders.
06:42On October 3rd of that year, the young inventor took his prototype out for a spin around a hill opposite his father-in-law's home.
06:49However, that would prove to be his last ride.
06:52During his test run, Nelson fell from the motorized bicycle and died on the spot.
06:57Otto Lilienthal
06:58Glider
06:59German engineer Otto Lilienthal always dreamt of flying.
07:03In 1891, he made that dream a reality.
07:06After years of studying bird flight, Lilienthal used his research to develop a glider, which he used to take to the skies.
07:14Over time, he continuously tweaked his design, completing over 2,000 successful flights.
07:19This achievement earned him global recognition as the father of flight, but it eventually came at the ultimate price.
07:26While in the air on August 9th, 1896, Lilienthal's glider stalled, causing him to fall 15 meters or almost 50 feet to the ground.
07:35He broke his neck as a result and passed away the following day, despite his untimely death.
07:41Lilienthal's groundbreaking work inspired the Wright brothers to build the world's first successful airplane.
07:47Louis Slotin
07:47Plutonium Core
07:49After training as a physicist and chemist, Canadian scientist Louis Slotin became a research associate at the University of Chicago in 1937.
07:57Later, he joined the top-secret Manhattan Project, helping to create the atomic bombs used in World War II.
08:03Slotin focused on developing the plutonium sphere known as the Demon Core, which was initially intended for a third nuclear strike on Japan before their surrender.
08:12On May 21st, 1946, after the war had ended, Slotin was demonstrating a procedure on the Demon Core when his screwdriver slipped, triggering a burst of hard radiation.
08:22Of everyone in the room, Slotin was hit the hardest.
08:29He was rushed to the hospital, where he died nine days later.
08:33Sylvester H. Roper
08:35The Roper Steam Velocipede
08:36Born in Francistown, New Hampshire, Sylvester H. Roper was a trailblazer when it came to the subject of motor vehicles, and more specifically, motorcycles and automobiles.
08:46Roper created what is often considered one of the first motorcycles, the Roper Steam Velocipede.
08:52It was while riding this steam-powered land vehicle in 1896 that spectators noticed Roper wobbling upon it at a considerable 40 miles per hour,
09:01only for him to fall off and suffer a head wound following several laps.
09:05He was found dead at the scene, with an autopsy revealing heart failure as the cause of death.
09:10Though, whether his loss of balance was a catalyst for the stress on his heart, or if his heart failed prior to the crash, is unknown.
09:17Horace Lawson Hunley
09:18Hand-cranked Submarine
09:20During the American Civil War, Horace Lawson Hunley served as a Confederate Marine engineer,
09:26and he invented various forms of hand-powered submarines to use in battle against Union troops.
09:31Unfortunately, during a routine exercise in 1863, one of his submarines took on too much water and sank,
09:38killing all men inside, including Hunley.
09:41This submarine, called the H. L. Hunley after its inventor,
09:44was eventually raised and became the first sub to sink an enemy vessel in naval history.
09:49So, at least his death wasn't completely in vain.
09:53Henry Winstonley
09:54Ediston Lighthouse
09:55This English painter and engineer had such a thing for mechanical and hydraulic gadgets
09:59that most of the county of Essex knew about it.
10:02He indulged in this fascination by ensuring he was always surrounded by mechanisms that
10:07he designed and constructed, and the Ediston Lighthouse was no exception.
10:11After becoming a merchant and losing two ships on the Ediston Rocks,
10:15Henry Winstonley had the lighthouse built with lavish decorations and a glass lantern room in 1696.
10:21However, his death is perhaps proof that you must think before you speak.
10:25In 1703, after previously proclaiming his wish to witness the greatest storm there ever was from inside of it,
10:32the Great Storm of Southern England destroyed the lighthouse and killed him along with it.
10:37Max Fallier
10:38Rocket-Powered Car
10:39Automobile inventions are definitely at the forefront of accidental deaths,
10:44taking the lives of Fred Dussenberg, Henry Smolinski,
10:47Francis Edgar Stanley, and Valerian Abakovsky, just to name a few.
10:50Max Fallier's self-named Fallier Highland Rock 7 was the first successful rocket car to run with liquid propulsion.
10:57Unfortunately, that liquid was alcohol-based, and less than a month after his successful Rock 7 run,
11:03while making tests for a rocket engine, a canister of it exploded on his workbench in Berlin.
11:08Fallier was killed within minutes on that day in 1930.
11:12Today, he is remembered as one of the brilliant individuals who helped pave the way for spaceflight.
11:17Jean-François Pilatre de Rosier
11:19Rosier Balloon
11:21Considered one of the first trailblazers of aviation,
11:24Jean-François Pilatre de Rosier was a notable French physics and chemistry teacher.
11:29De Rosier is perhaps best known as the man who made the first manned free balloon flight,
11:34along with the Marquis d'Arlande.
11:36Unfortunately, his ambition got the best of him,
11:38and he crashed while attempting to fly his Rosier balloon across the English Channel in 1785.
11:44The hydrogen hot air balloon deflated in midair,
11:47and he and his companion fell 1,500 feet to their deaths.
11:51The crash gave these men the distinction of becoming some of the first fatalities of an air crash.
11:56William Bullock
11:57Web Rotary Press
11:59While Richard March Ho invented the Rotary Printing Press in 1843,
12:03William Bullock made numerous additions to it and made it his own.
12:07This included automatic paper feeding rather than laborious paper pushing.
12:11Unfortunately, his additions proved his demise,
12:14as he kicked a driving belt onto a pulley of his Web Rotary Press and got his leg stuck,
12:19which eventually led to gangrene.
12:21He finally died during an operation to amputate his leg a few days later.
12:26Thomas Midgley Jr.
12:28Pulley System
12:28Thomas Midgley Jr. was a renowned chemist and mechanical engineer,
12:32perhaps best known for his involvement with the addition of a compound known as tetraethyled,
12:36or TEL, to gasoline.
12:38After a successful career, Midgley Jr. was diagnosed with poliomyelitis,
12:43a disease that left him bedridden and unable to move.
12:46As a solution to his problems,
12:48he devised a complex pulley system that would help others lift him out of bed.
12:52This genius invention unfortunately led to his death in 1940,
12:56as he was ultimately strangled by its strings.
13:00Franz Reichelt
13:01Parachute Suit
13:02Franz Reichelt was a trailblazer of aviation safety,
13:05most famous for his ill-advised jump off Paris' Eiffel Tower in order to test his full-body parachute in 1912.
13:12After numerous unsuccessful tests from his apartment using a dummy,
13:16Reichelt decided to test a parachute he designed and refined himself.
13:19And what better way to do that than by jumping from the Eiffel Tower?
13:23After multiple attempts to dissuade him,
13:26a hesitant Reichelt jumped and landed square on his face on the icy Paris ground.
13:31He died on the scene, even though spectators rushed him to the hospital.
13:35Stockton Rush
13:36Oceangate's Titan Submersible
13:38In 2009, Stockton Rush founded Oceangate, aiming to make deep-sea travel accessible to the public.
13:45I sort of don't like the term tours.
13:47This is really about exploration.
13:49It's an expedition to survey the wreck,
13:51and we have a number of individuals that can come out as mission specialists to assist.
13:57Throughout 2021 and 2022, Oceangate organized several trips to the wreck of the Titanic
14:03with their submersible Titan at a steep price of $250,000 per person.
14:08For the first expedition of 2023, the Titan carried three tourists,
14:13one crew member, and Rush himself as the pilot.
14:16However, nearly two hours after departing,
14:19the submersible lost contact with its mothership and was never heard from again.
14:23It was later determined that it had imploded during descent,
14:26instantly killing everyone on board.
14:29The unthinkable became all too real this past week
14:32as we learned of the fate of undersea explorer Stockton Rush's Titan Submersible
14:39on its way to the Atlantic grave of the Titanic.
14:43Ironically, the Titanic, whose wreckage they sought to explore,
14:46also claimed the life of its designer Thomas Andrews Jr.
14:50when it sank on April 15, 1912.
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15:08Marie Curie, Polonium and Radium
15:11Perhaps the most accomplished discoverer on this list,
15:14Marie Curie was a trailblazer in the field of radioactivity
15:17and is the only scientist in history to win two Nobel Prizes for two separate sciences.
15:23Her discovery of polonium and radium eventually proved to be her demise, however,
15:28as she died from aplastic anemia due to her constant exposure to radiation in 1934.
15:33The negative health effects were simply not known at the time,
15:37and the papers documenting her work are considered too radioactive to handle even to this day.
15:42Which of these ultimate sacrifices do you think was worth it in the end?
15:46Let us know in the comments below.
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