Inventors Who Maybe Should’ve Read The Manual Of Their Own Invention That Ended Up Killing Them
Sylvester H Roper
Roper invented the world’s first motorcycle. He called it the velocipede and it was actually a converted bicycle powered by a steam engine. At 72 years old in 1896, he was testing the machine on a bike race track and was lapping the pedal-powered two-wheelers at over 40 mph. Suddenly, he wiped out and crashed.
The autopsy showed that he had a heart attack but it’s unclear whether the heart attack caused the crash, or if the crash caused the heart attack. Either way, it seems the adrenaline and acceleration kicked in too much, causing this crash.
