Buzz
Humanity is deeply indebted to the scientists featured here, each of whom either perished or sustained significant injuries while relentlessly pursuing knowledge. Their remarkable breakthroughs in science have not only expanded our understanding but also paved the way for some of the greatest human discoveries and inventions.
10. Karl Scheele Died after tasting his own experiments
Scheele was a pioneering pharmaceutical chemist known for discovering several key chemical elements, including oxygen (though Joseph Priestley was first to publish his findings), molybdenum, tungsten, manganese, and chlorine. He also identified a process similar to pasteurization. A peculiar habit of tasting his discoveries ultimately led to his demise. He survived testing hydrogen cyanide but was not so lucky afterward, dying from symptoms resembling mercury poisoning.
9. Jean-Francois De Rozier The first casualty of an air crash
Jean-Francois, a physics and chemistry teacher, became captivated by flight after witnessing the world’s first balloon flight in 1783. He contributed to the untethered flight of a sheep, a chicken, and a duck before making his own historic manned flight in a hot air balloon, reaching an altitude of 3,000 feet. Not stopping there, De Rozier sought to cross the English Channel from France to England. Tragically, during his final flight, after reaching 1,500 feet in a combined hot air and gas balloon, the balloon collapsed, sending him to his death. His fiancée died just eight days later, possibly from suicide.
8. Sir David Brewster A narrow escape from blindness
Sir David was a Scottish inventor, scientist, and writer with a passion for optics and light polarization, a field that demands exceptional vision. Unfortunately, in 1831, a chemical experiment nearly cost him his sight. While his vision did recover, he continued to suffer from eye issues throughout his life. Brewster is best known as the inventor of the kaleidoscope, a toy that has brought joy to millions of children around the world.
7. Elizabeth Ascheim Fatal consequences of exposure to X-rays
Elizabeth Fleischman Ascheim, after marrying her doctor, Dr. Woolf, was introduced to the new scientific discovery of X-rays, made by Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen. Her fascination led her to abandon her bookkeeping job and study electrical science. She eventually acquired an X-ray machine, setting up the first X-ray lab in San Francisco at her husband's office. Together, they experimented with the machine, often using themselves as subjects. Unfortunately, they overlooked the dangers of radiation exposure, and Elizabeth tragically died from an aggressive form of cancer. Ascheim’s story remains largely unknown, so I recommend you read this PDF on her life.
6. Alexander Bogdanov Met his demise through blood experiments
Bogdanov, a Russian physician, philosopher, economist, science fiction writer, and revolutionary, began experimenting with blood transfusions in 1924, likely in search of eternal youth. After 11 transfusions performed on himself, he claimed that his balding had stopped and his eyesight had improved. Unfortunately, blood transfusion science was still in its infancy, and Bogdanov did not test the health of the blood or the donors. In 1928, he received a transfusion of blood contaminated with malaria and tuberculosis, which led to his death shortly thereafter.
5. Robert Bunsen Lost sight in one eye due to an experiment
Robert Bunsen, best known for popularizing the Bunsen burner, initially pursued a career in organic chemistry but nearly perished twice from arsenic poisoning. Shortly after surviving these close calls, he lost sight in his right eye following an explosion involving cacodyl cyanide. These near-death experiences led him to shift his focus to inorganic chemistry, where he made pivotal contributions to the field of spectroscopy.
4. Sir Humphrey Davy A series of unfortunate events
Sir Humphrey Davy, the renowned British chemist and inventor, had a rocky start to his scientific career. As a young apprentice, he was dismissed from his apothecary position due to his tendency to cause explosions! When he later turned to chemistry, he developed a dangerous habit of inhaling various gases. This risky behavior eventually led to his discovery of the anesthetic effects of nitrous oxide. However, it also brought him close to death on multiple occasions, and the repeated poisonings left him in poor health for the last two decades of his life. During this period, a nitrogen trichloride explosion also resulted in permanent damage to his eyesight.
3. Galileo Galilei Lost his sight
Galileo’s improvements to the telescope unlocked the vast unknowns of the universe for future generations, but it also led to the deterioration of his eyesight. His fascination with the sun drove him to observe it for hours, causing severe damage to his retinas. This likely resulted in his near blindness during the final four years of his life. Due to his remarkable contributions, he is often hailed as the 'father of modern physics.'
2. Marie Curie Died from prolonged radiation exposure
In 1898, Marie Curie and her husband, Pierre, discovered radium. She devoted the rest of her life to researching radiation and its applications in therapy. Her repeated exposure to radiation led to her contracting leukemia, and she passed away in 1934. Curie remains the first and only individual to win two Nobel Prizes in two different scientific fields: chemistry and physics. She was also the first female professor at the University of Paris.
1. Michael Faraday Suffered from chronic poisoning
Faraday’s journey into the world of science began due to the eye injury of Sir Humphrey Davy, who took Faraday on as an apprentice. Faraday later made significant advancements in electrolysis and contributed greatly to the field of electromagnetism. Unfortunately, like his mentor, Faraday suffered from an eye injury after a nitrogen chloride explosion. In the years that followed, he endured chronic chemical poisoning for the rest of his life.
+ Louis Slotin Met his end from a tragic fission accident
Though I typically refrain from revising a list once it's published (except for correcting errors), the suggestion made by mudbug raised an interesting point, which I hadn't considered – so here it is. Canadian-born Louis Slotin was involved in the Manhattan Project (the American effort to build the first nuclear bomb). During his work, he inadvertently caused a prompt critical reaction by dropping a beryllium sphere onto another, triggering a fission event (both spheres surrounded a plutonium core). Witnesses observed a 'blue glow' as air ionized and felt a 'wave of heat.' Slotin rushed outside and soon fell ill. He died nine days later. The radiation exposure he suffered was equivalent to being 4,800 feet away from a nuclear bomb explosion. This event led to the halt of all hands-on assembly work at Los Alamos. I highly recommend reading the Wikipedia article about this crucial event.
Honorable mention: Rosalind Franklin
