The Inventor Killed by His Own Invention Thomas Midgley Jr. invented leaded gasoline. He also invented Freon. Both poisoned the planet for decades. In 1940 he caught polio and built a rope-pulley device to lift himself out of bed. In 1944, the ropes tangled around his neck. He strangled in his own contraption.
Source
Bill Bryson, 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' (2003), chapter on atmospheric chemistry; also widely documented in New York Times obituary, November 3, 1944
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