It’s often said that creating something new involves out-of-the-box thinking, determination, courage, and risk-taking. Some of these inventors came up with groundbreaking inventions and relished its success for the rest of their lives. But there are times when these inventions can go terribly wrong especially with the inventors themselves. The same happened in the case of the following inventors where their work became the reason for their deaths. She discovered polonium and radium, and was also the pioneer of research on radioactivity. The first and only woman to win two Nobel Prizes in two different disciplines died at the age of 66. She inadvertently discovered the adverse effect of radioactivity on human health. She died because of aplastic anemia caused by exposure to the radiation.
But the same can be said about most inventors. He left his job to start the Advanced Vehicle Engineers (AVE), a company aimed at bringing flying cars to the market. The first two prototypes were made by fusing the rear end of a Ford Pinto car with a Cessna Skymaster. In 1973, he went on testing one of the prototypes with pilot Harold Blake. They were both killed in the crash when one of the wing struts detached from the plane. The National Transportation Safety Board claimed that the bad welds led to the crash.
He also had a strong desire to fly. The thing that made him popular was his attempt to fly with wooden wings. Apparently, this is also the incident that led to his death. To fulfill his desire, he made a pair of wooden wings for himself. In an ambitious attempt, he leapt from the roof of a mosque. But unfortunately, he fell down which led to his death.
Winstanley was an engineer and a painter. He constructed a lighthouse with utmost faith in his creation. He had always wished to be inside the lighthouse at the time of a storm. His wish actually came true as he was in the lighthouse when a storm came. Unfortunately, the lighthouse couldn’t stand the storm and collapsed. This led to his death and the death of five other people who were present in the lighthouse at that point of time.
His flights were known to be well documented, successful and were repeated with time. He enlightened people about the possibility of flying machines. Unfortunately, during one of his flights, he lost control and fell from a height of 50 ft. August 9, 1896 was the fateful day and it was established that he broke his neck. But the next day, the news of his demise shocked the world.
