Prompt Cast
Tragic Deaths Resulting from Inventions and Discoveries
TLDR This podcast explores various cases of inventors and discoverers meeting tragic ends, such as a scientist suffering from radiation poisoning, brutal rulers who met downfall due to their methods of torture, failed parachute inventions, and fatal accidents while working on printing presses and rocket technology.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
The podcast discusses various cases of people dying as a result of their own inventions or discoveries, including a lighthouse collapsing on its creator and Marie Curie's death from radiation poisoning.
04:30
Harry Dalian, a scientist working on the Manhattan Project, died after accidentally dropping a tungsten brick onto the core of the plutonium bomb he was working on, suffering from radiation poisoning as a result.
09:26
Lisi and Zhao Chao, two brutal rulers in ancient China, burned books and used torture methods such as "The Five Pains" to maintain their power, ultimately leading to their downfall.
14:22
Zhao Chao has Lisi executed through the five pains, a brutal method of torture that involves slow slicing, which is even worse than the five pains and was last used in 1905.
19:15
In the late 18th and early 19th century, a number of French inventors, including Franz Reichelt, were working on the development of parachutes, but Reichelt's specific parachute invention, which he tested by jumping off buildings and eventually off the Eiffel Tower, did not work at all.
23:49
Franz Reichelt's parachute invention failed when he jumped off the Eiffel Tower and died, and Max Valier developed rocket-powered cars in partnership with Opel.
28:19
Max Valier continued to develop rocket technology, reaching speeds of 250 miles per hour, but tragically died at the age of 35 while working on a rocket motor.
32:50
William Bullock invented the Bullock Press, a rotary printing press that could print 12,000 sheets per hour, but tragically died when his leg got caught in one of the rollers while he was working on the machine.
37:27
Michael Daker, a pilot in the British army, had the idea for the jet pod, an air taxi that could transport people from an airport to a city center in just four minutes, but there is no news coverage of his invention.
42:16
Michael Daker, the inventor of the jet pod, died during a test flight of one of the prototypes, and it is unclear what the current status of the project is.
Categories:
Society & Culture
