

Doomed Engineers: Careers even worse than yours  - kurtosis
http://world.std.com/~jlr/doom/doom_eng.htm

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ibsulon
Every time I see Alan Turing's name associated with suicide I get angry and
sad. He was killed by PTSD, effectively, given by his own country in gratitude
for serving it so effectively.

~~~
tomjen
True. Could he be made a British knight posthumous?

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duskwuff
Perhaps it's because the story's apocryphal, but the story of Perillos of
Athens probably belongs here:

"The Bronze Bull, Brazen Bull, or the Sicilian Bull, is an execution/torture
device designed in ancient Greece. Perillos of Athens, a brass-founder,
proposed to Phalaris, the tyrant of Akragas, Sicily, the invention of a new
means for executing criminals; accordingly, he cast a bull, made entirely of
brass, hollow, with a door in the side. The condemned were shut in the bull
and a fire was set under it, heating the metal until it became "yellow hot"
and causing the person inside to roast to death...

Phalaris commended the invention, and ordered its horn sound system to be
tested on Perillos himself. When Perillos entered, he was immediately locked
in, and the fire was set, so that Phalaris could hear the sound of his
screams.

Before Perillos could die, Phalaris opened the door and took him away.
Perillos believed he would receive a reward for his invention; instead, after
freeing him from the bull, Phalaris threw him from the top of a hill, killing
him."

\-- <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazen_bull>

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Allocator2008
Forgot to mention Frank Rosenblatt of the Rosenblatt Perceptron -
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Rosenblatt> \- killed in boating accident.

~~~
fgimenez
Is Jim Gray - <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Gray_(computer_scientist)> \-
considered dead?

~~~
tomjen
Since he was lost in early 2007, I would say yes for all practical purposes.

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shizcakes
Who: Henry Smolinski and Hal Blake

Deceased: 1973

Invention: Winged automobiles

Cause of Death: A suddenly wingless automobile

