Inventors Who Were Killed By Their Inventions

To The Moon, Alice!

Physicist and machinist Max Valier's passion was to become a free-lance science writer. After reading a colleague's book on the concept of space travel, Max focused his writing on how that could be accomplished. He formed an amateur rocket association called the Spaceflight Society where he designed and successfully tested the first liquid-fueled rocket. His fruitful and favorite books caught the eye and interest of industrialist Fritz von Opel. Valier worked with Opel to design and implement several liquid-fuel propelled rockets. Opel was mostly interested in using the rocket tests as publicity stunts for his Corporation. Max piloted a rocket car during one of their demonstrations. One month later, while working on an alcohol-fueled prototype, he accidentally triggered a lethal explosion.