Death By Invention Trivia Quiz

Answer: Flying Tailor

Reichelt was born in 1878 in the Kingdom of Bohemia. He was a tailor and inventor who was an early pioneer in parachuting. He successfully tested out a parachute-suit that he had created on dummies. With that success in mind, he petitioned to conduct an experiment from the Eiffel Tower.

He got the approval to conduct the test using a dummy but upon arriving in Paris, insisted on doing the test himself instead. He argued with a guard who tried to block his access to the Eiffel Tower but eventually and reluctantly was given permission. On February 4th, 1912, he jumped from the tower wearing his parachute-suit, which failed to deploy.

He plunged to his death, which was witnessed by a number of spectators, press, and a cinematographer, who captured the jump on film.

Answer: Barrel

Karel Soucek was a professional stuntman living in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. In 1984 he successfully went over Niagara Falls in a custom-made barrel. For the stunt he received a fine and paid thousands of dollars in materials but he got a taste of success.

He built a museum in Niagara Falls and decided to take his stunt a step further. He decided to take his barrel to the top of the Houston Astrodome and have it dropped into a tank of water. In 1985, he was inside his barrel, one hundred and eighty feet above the tank of water, when it was prematurely released.

The barrel spun toward the ground and hit the rim of the tank. When he was removed from the barrel he was severely injured and died at the event.

Answer: Marie Curie

Marie Curie was a pioneer in radioactivity research. Not only was the she the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, but the only one to receive two Nobel prizes (as of 2021). She founded medical research centers and developed mobile radiography units. For years she worked on radioactivity research.

At the time of her research, the dangers of radiation exposure weren't understood and so there were no safety protocols. She carried test tubes containing radioactive isotopes around in her pocket and stored them in her desk.

At the age of sixty-six, she died while in a long-term illness hospital in France. It is thought that she died of either myelodysplastic syndrome or aplastic anemia as a result of her exposure to radiation during her work and research.

Answer: Glider

Otto Lilienthal was incredibly successful as his craft. He was given the nickname, the 'flying man', and there are many published photos of him gliding using machines he had developed. During his life, he developed models of monoplanes, biplanes and aircraft using wings that flapped.

In 1896, after dozens of successful similar flights, he was using his regular glider that stalled and he fell fifty feet to the ground, breaking his neck and dying the next day. The Wright brothers were very familiar with him and Wilbur Wright has been quoted as saying that Lilienthal was "easily the most important" of the early flight pioneers. Lilienthal was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame and an airport and air force tanker were named after him.

Answer: Titanic

Thomas Andrews was the director of the drafting department at Harland and Wolff, the company responsible for building the RMS Olympic, the RMS Titanic, and the RMS Britannic. By all accounts he was a hard-working, humble, and very well-liked man who suggested additional safety improvements to the Titanic that were rejected.

As is customary, he and a team from Harland and Wolff boarded the Titanic's maiden voyage to make note of any issues and make amendments for future trips. During the fateful first and last Titanic voyage, he apparently was seen by many survivors trying to help passengers and urging them to get on a lifeboat.

The exact details of his death are unknown and his body was never recovered. He is credited with saving the lives of countless people who were able to flee the sinking ship.

In 2004 an asteroid was named after him.

Answer: Alexander Bogdanov

Bogdanov was born in the Russian Empire in 1873, and had a wide range of interests. He co-founded the Bolsheviks and rivaled Lenin for power. He wrote several works of non-fiction and fiction. He studied psychiatry and medicine and it was this pursuit that led to his death. Bogdanov was fascinated by the idea of human rejuvenation through blood transfusion, and he experimented on himself, his sister, and others.

He had several successful transfusions that seemed to help him improve his eyesight and slow down hair loss.

In 1928 he used the blood of a student who was suffering from malaria and tuberculosis, and although the student made a full recovery, Bogdanov died. There is some speculation that he committed suicide as he had written a political letter prior to the transfusion, but there is no proof. Bogdanov was an incredibly interesting and diverse man, founding the Institute for Haemotology and Blood Transfusions, and having an impact on political thought and dissent in Russia.

Answer: Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier

In 1783 Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes became the first two people to make a manned free balloon flight. Initially King Louis XVI wanted the first people in the balloon to be criminals, however, Rozier succeeded in changing his mind.

After this event Rozier had other successful balloon flights and set a goal of crossing the English Channel. In 1785 he and his companion Pierre Romain set off in his Roziere Balloon, which was a combination of a hydrogen and hot air balloon.

After making some early progress, the balloon was pushed five kilometers back over France when it caught fire and deflated, falling about fifteen hundred meters to the ground. Both Rozier and Romain were killed. The Roziere Balloon lives on as the modern gas and hot air balloon hybrid takes that name.

Answer: Rocketry

Valier worked on Opel RAK which was the first large-scale rocket program in the world. While working at that program, he developed rocket-powered cars and aircraft with Fritz von Opel. In 1929 the first public rocket plane was successfully piloted by von Opel. Valier and von Opel ceased working together and Valier ventured into liquid-fueled rockets and in 1930 successfully piloted a rocket car that was liquid fueled.

A month after this achievement, he was working in Berlin when an alcohol-fueled rocket exploded, killing him.

In 2017 a telescopic satellite bearing his name was launched.

Answer: William Bullock

William Bullock was quite a prolific inventor, designing a cotton and hay press, a seed planter, and a lathe cutting machine. He also designed a grain drill that won him an award. When he entered into the newspaper industry, he designed a printing press that had a hand feeder.

This led to the creation of a web rotary press that allowed for greater efficiency and speed of printing. This press printed sheets on both sides, folded the paper, and cut the sheets. At the time, this allowed for twelve thousand printed sheets per hour.

In 1867 he was working on a machine and his leg got caught in it and was crushed. As a result he developed gangrene and died during an operation to try and amputate the leg.

Answer: Submarine

Hunley was an early pioneer in hand-powered submarines, building three during his lifetime. He joined forces with two engineers to build the Pioneer and the American Diver before making a solo effort to build a submarine called the H. L. Hunley. Several of the first crew of the H. L. Hunley died during testing, but he managed to get a second team together and in 1863 Hunley joined them in an exercise.

The vessel sank again and everyone on board including Hunley drowned. The submarine was re-surfaced and used in the first successful operation whereby a submarine sank an enemy vessel. Unfortunately the H. L. Hunley also sank during this attack and everyone on board perished.