Fun fact: The guy who invented leaded gasoline later went on to invent fridges that use CFCs as coolant (Thomas Midgley Jr). Probably the person who single-handedly had the worst impact on the environment in all of history.
He got polio and was bedridden, and he came up with this hoist system of pulleys and ropes to move himself around with, which went wrong and strangled him. So at least his death was sufficiently hilarious.