Inventors Who Were Killed By Their Inventions

He Should Have Stuck To Chemistry?

During the many years that Thomas Midgley Jr worked for General Motors, he was credited with over one hundred patents. He researched and invented many compounds that, at the time, were beneficial to humanity but later on were found to be lethal. Leaded gas and chlorofluorocarbon were two of those compounds. The leaded gasoline solved engine problems (knocking) but also created lead poisoning and environmental pollution. We now know that chlorofluorocarbons are responsible for thinning the ozone layer and accelerating global warming. His exposure to the leaded gas made him very sick, but that isn't what ended his life. After contracting Polio, he invented the first bed lift. When operating the device by himself one day, he became tangled in the ropes and asphyxiated.