10 inventors who died from their own invention, creation, or discovery

• The pursuit of knowledge and innovation is not without its risks.

• Many inventors, including OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, learned that the hard way.

• Confidence is key, but safe test practices are worth their weight in mortality.

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, the man at the center of the recent tragedy of the missing Titan submersible, has found himself among interesting company. He was recently added to Wikipedia's list of inventors killed by their inventions.

The list includes 26 entries across several categories, including aviation, medical, and maritime. The last entry under the maritime section, before the addition of Rush, was Thomas Andrews, the architect behind the Titanic.

If nothing else, it's a good exercise in realizing that the pursuit of knowledge and art is not without risk to mind, soul, and, in this case, mortality. Here are other notable deaths on the list.

Stockton Rush

Rush is the latest addition to the list of ill-fated inventors.

Rush and four others on board the Titan submersible went missing on June 18 while on a voyage to the wreck of the Titanic. The loss of the sub launched a search-and-rescue mission that involved the US Navy, the US Coast Guard, and the "Titanic" director, James Cameron.

The search lasted five days until Coast Guard officials announced on June 22 that the submersible had imploded 1,600 feet from the Titanic shipwreck.

The Coast Guard has convened a Marine Board of Investigation to look into the cause of the implosion — the highest level of investigation by the organization, according to CNN.

The submersible that has been making headlines for the past few weeks was created by Rush to explore the remains of the Titanic as part of a larger adventure-tourism venture.

As more information has come in since the Coast Guard announced that the passengers of the Titan had died, there is evidence to suggest that Rush might have ignored advice from others and important safety features before departing. 

Karl Stanley, a friend of Rush who owns Stanley's Submarines, a deep-sea-exploration company, took a test-dive with Rush in 2019. After the test, Stanley warned Rush about the dangers of being impatient in an email chain.

"The evidence suggests there is an issue/defect in one area," Stanley wrote to Rush. "Without knowing what that defect or issue is, your models and experts cannot say how it will affect the performance of the hull."

Rush ultimately did not heed the warnings, telling Stanley in an email to "keep his opinions to himself."

Sources: Insider, Insider, The New York Times, CNN

Thomas Andrews

The Titanic, which shipbuilders touted as an "unsinkable ship," met its demise on its maiden voyage when an iceberg damaged its watertight components, causing it to sink.

Andrews, the shipbuilder who designed the Titanic, said the ship was "unsinkable" because it had 16 watertight compartments. When the Titanic scraped the iceberg, it caused damage to five of the 16 compartments — two more than the ship's design could afford to lose.

Upon assessing the damage, Andrews said the ship had three hours to survive.

Current thinking about the sinking of the Titanic has led experts to believe that the problem with the iconic vessel was in the rivets holding it together rather than the quality of the steel making up the ship.

Andrews advocated for more lifeboats but was denied in favor of maintaining a better view and less clutter on the deck.

There may have been enough lifeboats for everybody onboard had Andrews, who ultimately died when the Titanic sank, been granted his request.

Sources: US News and World Report, Scientific American, National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, National Archives

William Bullock

Bullock was a newspaper editor who revolutionized printing by making improvements to the rotary printing press.

Instead of loading paper by hand, Bullock's patent made it possible for a continuous roll of paper several miles long to flow through a printing press. Because of his patent, factories could print from 8,000 to 10,000 sheets per hour, exponentially increasing their printing speeds.

One day, while installing a printing press, Bullock's leg got caught in the machine. The press crushed his foot, resulting in a gangrene infection that killed him days later.

Conflicting records said that Bullock kicked the machine while trying to install the press and, in doing so, got his foot and leg caught, which led to the accident.

The belief that Bullock died after kicking the press shows that hitting a machine to make it work is a time-honored tradition.

Sources: The New Yorker, Library of Congress

Robert Cocking

Cocking, a watercolor painter who was fascinated with air travel, designed a parachute in 1837 that he debuted to the public at Vauxhall Gardens in London.

On its maiden voyage, Cocking detached his device from a hot air balloon and promptly fell several hundred feet to his death.

In one account of the incident, Cocking was found in a field by laborers and was alive for a few moments after reaching the ground.

In a different account, by the time Cocking's body was found, visitors of the park had taken his watch, snuff box, and even his glass eye.

Though Cocking's parachute design has been forgotten, he lives in infamy as the first-recorded parachute death.

Sources: Politico, Smithsonian Archives, National Air and Space Museum

Franz Reichelt

Reichelt, known as the flying tailor, attempted to test a parachute he designed by jumping from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

The Aéro-Club de France was holding a competition for the best parachute design with a cash prize of 10,000 euros.

Reichelt was a tailor specializing in dresses, and he had already been developing a new parachute design. Despite being rejected by aeronautic organizations, Reichelt pressed on, convinced that his design would work.

Reichelt petitioned the government to allow him to jump from the top of the Eiffel Tower, believing that his dummy tests were failing because they weren't high enough. After a year of back-and-forth, he was finally granted permission on the account that the test would be done with a dummy.

On February 4, 1912, Reichelt surprised authorities at the top of the Eiffel Tower when he announced he would conduct the test himself in place of a dummy.

In front of spectators, the press, and cameras, Reichelt took his leap from the Eiffel Tower, placing his faith in his 20-pound contraption. He plummeted to his death, leaving a hole where he landed.

Sources: Medium, Atlas Obscura

Henry Smolinski and Harold Blake

Smolinski and Blake attempted to make the world's first flying car, the AVE Mizar. Despite some early successes, the two engineers died while conducting a test-flight.

The two engineers named their invention after a star in the Big Dipper, and they combined a Cessna Skymaster and a Ford Pinto to create it.

Despite initial problems, Smolinski and Blake had small successes in previous tests. On September 11, 1973, the inventors began a test-flight with the Mizar from Ventura County airport in California. Shortly after they took off, black smoke could be seen from the car.

It crashed shortly afterward, killing Smolinski and Blake.

The plan had some problems from the beginning, namely that the Ford Pinto was known to explode if rear-ended, which led Ford to be the first US corporation charged with reckless homicide.

Sources: Gizmodo, Mental Floss, Popular Mechanics

Thomas Midgley Jr.

Midgley Jr. invented leaded gasoline and the synthetic substance used in air conditioning and refrigeration, contracted polio, and died in a contraption he made to hoist himself in and out of bed.

The public was told that his death was an accident, but privately it was ruled a suicide, according to The New York Times Magazine. Either way, it was something of the lifelong inventor's creation that contributed to his death.

Source: The New York Times Magazine

Luis Jimenez

Jimenez, the sculptor behind the work known as "Blucifer" at the Denver International Airport, died when pieces of his sculpture fell on him.

Jimenez was contracted by the Denver International Airport to make the sculpture and had been working on it for nearly a decade when he died.

The 32-foot-tall, 9,000-pound sculpture came loose from a hoist while being moved and pinned Jimenez to a steel support beam. The collision severed an artery in Jimenez's leg, and he died before he arrived at a hospital.

Source: The New York Times

Marie Curie

Curie died from aplastic pernicious anemia 31 years after winning her first Nobel Prize. The disease was a result of her work with radioactive material.

Curie did not "invent" radium or polonium, but she discovered them with her husband, Pierre Curie, and was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.

Curie also won a Nobel Prize for isolating radium and remains the only person to win the award in two scientific categories.

Sources: National Geographic, Nobel Prize, National Park Service

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