Core77

Neatorama's list of inventors who've died in the pursuit of creation is one that I'm sure many core readers could add to. If only Franz had Wayne Enterprises to offer a bit of R&D suppport.

Franz Reichelt was a tailor who was convinced that the next big thing was a coat that doubled as a parachute. So he got busy sewing and developed just that. To test the coat/parachute (coatachute? Paracoat?), Reichelt climbed up to the first deck of the Eiffel Tower. He told authorities that he was going to use a dummy to test the invention, but at the last minute he strapped himself in and jumped to his death in front of a large crowd of spectators.

I was going to link the youtube footage but it's a little disturbing.