Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
With great science comes great sacrifice. Including the deadly ones.
Nowadays, safety in the laboratory is an important part of every scientific project. However, we rarely think about the fact that this is the result of various injuries and deaths due to unsafe experiments throughout history. These fatal errors may seem silly to modern readers. Certainly science could have benefited more if some of these individuals had not met premature deaths.
But for better or worse, scientists and inventors who died in the line of duty left a legacy that shaped the work of future innovators. Read on to learn about some of the most shocking and consequential deaths in the history of science.
1. Francis Bacon’s tragic experiment in the snow
Francis Bacon, an English philosopher and politician, is considered the father of the empirical method in modern science. Bacon believed that every scientific hypothesis should be tested based on rigorous observations, measurements and experiments.
Bacon died of pneumonia in 1626 after staying outside too long to test whether filling a chicken with snow would help preserve it. This account, forwarded by the equally famous philosopher Thomas Hobbes is anecdotal and possibly apocryphal. However, if this is true, Francis Bacon was truly a man who lived and died for his principles.
2. Georg Wilhelm Richmann reveals the dangers of working with electricity
German-born Russian physicist Georg Wilhelm Richmann’s groundbreaking work on electricity and calorimetry is still used by theoretical and experimental physicists for a variety of research projects.
But Richmann’s passion for physics also led to his unfortunate death. On August 6, 1753, Richmann was electrocuted while testing an insulated rod to “make electrical observations or avert the effects of thunder,” Benjamin Franklin wrote in one obituary for the Pennsylvania Gazette.
According to Franklin, lightning shot from the staff, knocking Richmann back and leaving a round, red mark on his forehead, a broken left shoe and singed clothing.
3. The Fatal Flight of Joseph Croce-Spinelli and Theodore Sivel
In the early days of atmospheric research, researchers believed that the best way to collect data was to fly up themselves. In 1875, French aeronauts Joseph Croce-Spinelli, Theodore Sivel and M. Gaston Tissandier took to the skies in a specially designed balloon equipped with a ventilator that supplied them with oxygen.
Their goal was to “ascend to a higher altitude than ever before, conduct experiments for carbonic acid, make spectroscopic observations and generally obtain data,” according to a American Scientific Report from 1875.
Their security measures were not sufficient. All three men passed out due to lack of oxygen at about 29,000 feet. When the balloon finally descended, observers found Croce-Spinelli and Sivel suffocated and Tissandier barely alive.
4. Clarence Madison Dally and X-ray exposure
Today, X-rays are the source of many experiments and medical tests, but it took a long time for humanity to develop suitable protection against the powerful energy source. One of the earliest recorded The death of people from X-rays is Clarence Madison Dally, a glassblower who became an assistant to Thomas Edison.
Dally, testing X-ray tubes for Edison on his own hands, quickly developed severe skin grafts on both arms that had to be amputated. He finally died of cancer in 1904. This experience reportedly influenced Edison’s view of X-rays, with the scientist reportedly saying, “Don’t talk to me about X-rays; I’m afraid of them.”
5. Elizabeth Fleischman and another X-ray tragedy
Elizabeth Fleischman was a pioneer of early X-ray technology. Her work as a radiology assistant for the U.S. Army produced some of the most famous images in medical radiology while demonstrating the useful applications of X-rays to physicians.
However, Fleischman’s dedication to radiology also exposed her to unhealthy levels of radiation—ironic since she had also been tasked with developing protections against X-rays.
In 1905 – a year after Dally’s death – Fleischman died of cancer after her arm had to be amputated the previous year due to radiation damage. Her gravestone read“I believe I have done something good in this world.”
6. Franz Reichel jumps from the Eiffel Tower to test a parachute
Like the early aviation experiments, the beginning of the aviation age also led to several travesties, a famous example being the fall of Franz Reichelt. Reichelt, a tailor and inventor from France, made it his life’s work to design and manufacture portable parachutes. His dream was to test his invention by jumping from the Eiffel Tower.
After authorities had (understandably) rejected Reichelt’s requests for years, the inventor finally received approval for his proposal in 1912. He seemed extremely confident in his designs. tell According to local reporters, he would not take any additional security measures because “I want to try the experiment myself, without any tricks, as I want to prove the value of my invention.”
Reichelt’s jump was captured on video and can be seen below. Viewer discretion is strongly advised.
7. Marie Curie’s experiments with radioactivity
The famous physicist won two Nobel Prizes for her revolutionary research into radioactivity. She discovered two radioactive elements, polonium and radium, and provided the clearest account of radiation at the atomic level. However, like Dally and Fleischman, Curie and her husband and research partner Pierre were “not fully aware of the danger of the radioactive materials they were handling,” according to a biography from the Nobel Foundation.
The couple suffered constantly from radiation sickness and Curie died of aplastic anemia in 1934, which historians attribute to her prolonged exposure to radiation. Her commitment to her research has left “a scientific legacy that is literally inviolable,” the Nobel Foundation wrote, as many of Curie’s notes and papers “are still radioactive and will continue to be so for 1,500 years.”
8. Harry Daghlian and Louis Slotin and the “Demon Core” of the Manhattan’s Project
The ominously named “Demon Core” killed two Manhattan Project nuclear physicists. The core – a ball of plutonium that would serve as the core of an atomic bomb – was brought back to the laboratory for nuclear fission testing.
In the first incident, American physicist Harry Daghlian accidentally dropped a tungsten carbide brick onto the core. The addition set off a chain reaction that gave Daghlian severe radiation poisoning, and he died 25 days later, in September 1945. Nearly a year later, a tiny slip of a screwdriver triggered the Demon Core, releasing a bright blue flash of radiation. Canadian physicist Louis Slotin jumped in front of the sphere to shield his colleagues and dismantle the nucleus. He died 9 days later.
The incidents ultimately led to the cancellation of this project, and the Demon Core was melted down and recycled. The sacrifices also led to “higher safety standards in nuclear laboratories,” it said Atomic Heritage Foundation.