With great science come great sacrifices. Including the fatal ones.
Today, lab safety is a big part of any scientific endeavor. We seldom stop to think about this, however, as the product of various injuries and deaths from unsafe experiments in history. These fatal blunders might seem stupid to modern readers. Certainly, science could have benefitted more had some of these individuals not met an untimely death.
Still, for better or worse, scientists and inventors who perished in the line of duty left a legacy that informed the work of future innovators. Read on for some of the most shocking yet impactful deaths over the course of the history of science.
1. Francis Bacon’s tragic experiment in the snow
Francis Bacon, an English philosopher and politician, is considered to be the father of the empirical method in modern science. Bacon believed that any scientific hypothesis should be tested based on stringent observations, measurements, and experiments.
Bacon died from pneumonia in 1626, after staying outside for too long to test whether stuffing a chicken with snow would help to preserve it. This account, relayed by equally famous philosopher Thomas Hobbes, is anecdotal and possibly apocryphal. If true, however, Francis Bacon was truly a man who lived and died for his principles.
2. Georg Wilhelm Richmann exposes the dangers of working with electricity
An illustration depicting the scene of Richmann’s death. Credit: Science & Society Picture Library
German-born Russian physicist Georg Wilhelm Richmann’s pioneering work on electricity and calorimetry is still used by theoretical and experimental physicists for a wide range 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 for “making electrical observations or the means for averting the effects of thunder,” wrote Benjamin Franklin in an obituary for the Pennsylvania Gazette.
According to Franklin, a ball of lightning emerged from the rod, knocking Richmann back and leaving a round, red spot on his forehead, a busted left shoe, and singed clothes.
3. Joseph Croce-Spinelli and Theodore Sivel’s fatal high-altitude flight
Joseph Croce-Spinelli and Theodore Sivel preparing for ascension. © Le Monde illustré
In the early days of atmospheric science, researchers thought the best way to collect data was to fly up themselves. In 1875, French aeronauts Joseph Croce-Spinelli, Theodore Sivel, and M. Gaston Tissandier set off for the sky in a specially engineered air balloon, with a respirator to supply them with oxygen.
Their goal was to “ascend to a higher altitude than had ever before been reached, to make experiments for carbonic acid, conduct spectroscopic observations, and in general obtain data,” according to a Scientific American report from 1875.
Their safety measures weren’t enough. All three men passed out from a lack of oxygen at around 29,000 feet. When the balloon eventually descended, observers found Croce-Spinelli and Sivel dead from suffocation 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 proper protections against the powerful energy source. One of the earliest recorded human deaths from X-ray exposure is Clarence Madison Dally, a glassblower-turned-assistant to Thomas Edison.
Dally, who tested X-ray tubes for Edison on his own hands, quickly developed severe skin grafts on both of his arms, which had to be amputated. He eventually died from cancer in 1904. This experience reportedly influenced Edison’s perspectives on X-rays, with the scientist reported to have said, “Don’t talk to me about X-rays; I’m afraid of them.”
5. Elizabeth Fleischman and another X-ray tragedy
Radiograph of the skull of Private John Gretzer Jr. showing a bullet lodged in the brain, taken by Elizabeth Fleischman. Credit: Sternberg et al., 1900.
Elizabeth Fleischman was a pioneer in early X-ray technology. Her work as a radiographer for the United States Army produced some of the most famous images in medical radiology while demonstrating the useful applications of X-rays for doctors.
However, Fleischman’s dedication to radiology also exposed her to an unhealthy level of radiation—an irony, as she had also been tasked with developing protection measures against X-rays.
In 1905—one year after Dally’s death—Fleischman died from cancer, after her arm had to be amputated from radiation damage the previous year. Her tombstone read, “I think I did some good in this world.”
6. Franz Reichel leaps from the Eiffel Tower to test a parachute
Like early aeronautic experiments, the dawn of the aviation age led to several travesties, one famous example being the fall of Franz Reichelt. A tailor and inventor from France, Reichelt made it his life’s work to design and create wearable parachutes. His dream was to test his invention by jumping off the Eiffel Tower.
After years of authorities (understandably) rejecting Reichelt’s requests, the inventor finally received permission for his proposal in 1912. He appeared extremely confident in his designs, telling local reporters that he would not be using additional safety measures, as “I want to try the experiment myself and without trickery, as I intend to prove the worth 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 iconic physicist won two Nobel Prizes for her revolutionary research in radioactivity. She discovered two radioactive elements, polonium and radium, and provided the clearest account of radiation at the atomic level. Like Dally and Fleischman, however, Curie and her husband and research partner, Pierre, “did not fully appreciate the danger of the radioactive materials they handled,” according to a biography by the Nobel Foundation.
Pierre and Marie Curie. © Association Curie Joliot-Curie
The couple perpetually suffered from radiation sickness, and Curie died in 1934 from aplastic anemia, which historians attribute to her extended exposure to radiation. Her dedication to her research has “left a scientific legacy that is literally untouchable,” wrote the Nobel Foundation, as many of Curie’s notes and papers are “still radioactive and will be for 1,500 years.”
8. Harry Daghlian and Louis Slotin and the Manhattan’s Project’s “demon core”
The ominously named “demon core” killed two nuclear physicists from the Manhattan Project. The core—a sphere of plutonium meant to be the core of an atomic bomb—was pulled back into the lab for nuclear fission tests.
A recreation of the “demon core” by Los Alamos National Laboratory. Credit: LANL
In the first incident, American physicist Harry Daghlian accidentally dropped a tungsten carbide brick on the core. The addition triggered a chain reaction that gave Daghlian severe radiation poisoning, and he died 25 days after, in September 1945. Nearly one year later, a tiny slip of a screwdriver caused the demon core to release a bright blue flash of radiation. Canadian physicist Louis Slotin jumped in front of the sphere to shield his colleagues and disassemble the core. 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 casualties also inspired “increased safety standards in nuclear laboratories,” according to the Atomic Heritage Foundation.
