And 1 guy, Thomas Midgeley Jr., played a major role in both the use of leaded gasoline and in the development of some of the first chlorofluorocarbons which were later found to be eating the ozone layer.

Late in life he was disabled by polio. After inventing a system of ropes and pulleys to assist his aides in lifting him from his bed, he became entangled in it and died of strangulation.

He's almost a real-world version of Pratchett's Discworld inventor Bloody Stupid Johnson.