"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
—Harvard Professor George Santayana
Although much has been written in safety literature about the necessity of learning from past accidents and near-misses, very few countries keep detailed records of lab accidents, and under-reporting remains a widespread problem in organizations worldwide.
The list below has been compiled from public databases and official sources, such as the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, as well as from verified tips from individuals.
If you have information concerning any of these lab fatalities or others, please email info@labsafety.org. To ensure the integrity and completeness of this list, all reports received will be verified before being published. Please allow 4-6 weeks for new listings to appear.
Only fatalities that are the primary or secondary result of accidents that occurred in academic or industrial laboratory settings or in the course of conducting scientific field work are included. When multiple causes of death are possible or where the cause of death is uncertain, this is noted.
The Laboratory Safety Institute encourages anyone who works in a lab to freely reference this list in safety meetings and presentations. This list is also available in print as a 6-poster set.
Laboratory Fatalities
Unknown | A 17-year-old student was killed when the roof collapsed in an explosion while carrying out an experiment with some unknown chemicals. | |
Ch Rama Rao | 2023, Visakhapatnam, India. A pipeline carrying ethanol exploded at GMFC Labs due to a generation of static energy. The event triggered worker protests over safety violations. | |
Unknown | 2022, Montreal, Canada. A man in his 40s was killed in a chemical explosion at Polymer Source research center. | |
Rambabu Bingi, Rajesh Babu Talasila, Ramakrishna Rapeti and Majji Venkata Rao | 2022, Visakhapatnam, India. Four persons died on the spot and another received serious burn injuries when an explosion followed by fire engulfed the Laurus Laboratory at JN Pharma City. | |
Unknown | 2022, Isfahan Province, Iran. One person died and one was injured in a fire that broke out in the chemical laboratory of the Isfahan Industrial University. | |
Shakir | 2022, Multan, Pakistan. A lab technician died as a result of a chemical explosion at the Government Shahbaz Sharif Hospital. | |
Unknown (2) | 2021, Nanjing, China. Two people died in a lab explosion at the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. | |
Unknown | 2021, Beijing, China. A graduate student was killed in a laboratory blast at the Institute of Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. | |
Unknown | 2021, Beijing, China. A 53-year old veterinary surgeon working in a primate research institute dissected two dead monkeys in March 2021. When he died two months later, the cause was found to be Monkey B virus. | |
![]() |
Samuel Cuffaro | 2021, Gubbio, Perugia, Italy. An explosion at a Green Genetics cannabis lab killed a 19-year-old worker. |
![]() |
Elisabetta D'Innocenti | 2021, Gubbio, Perugia, Italy. An explosion at a Green Genetics cannabis lab killed a 52-year-old worker. |
![]() |
Joseph Kapp | 2020, Schenectady, New York. While Kapp was touring the facilities of Innovative Test Solutions, a tank used to treat avocados exploded. Kapp, a former mayor, later died from his injuries. |
![]() |
Émilie Jaumain | 2019, Versailles, France. In May 2010, a young technician in an INRA lab accidentally stabbed her thumb through a double pair of latex gloves while working with mice brain tissue containing mad cow disease proteins. She died of the disease nine years later. |
![]() |
Elazar Gutmanas | 2019, Haifa, Israel. Professor Emeritus at Technion – Israel Institute of Technology died in an explosion involving hydrogen research at his lab at the Department for Materials Science and Engineering. |
![]() |
Umihiko Hoshijima | 2019, Off Alaska Coast. A postdoctoral student at UC Santa Cruz died in an accident during a research dive. |
Unknown (3) | 2018, Beijing, China. Three students were killed in a lab explosion while researching wastewater treatment at Jiaotong University. | |
![]() |
Manoj Kumar | 2018, Bengaluru, India. 28-year old researcher was killed in a high-pressure hydrogen cylinder explosion at the Indian Institute of Science. |
![]() |
Ge Guo | 2018, Exton, PA. 26-year-old worker at Frontage Laboratories died as a result of exposure to potassium cyanide. |
![]() |
Emmanuel Tsuro | 2017, Harare, Zimbabwe. Student researcher died from burns received when a fire broke out in a microbiology lab at Premier Service Medical Investments. |
Unknown | 2016, Italy. A patient developed mad cow disease after exposure to infected brain tissue in a lab setting. |

![]() |
Krysten Lim Siaw Chian | 2016, Jurong, Singapore. Chemist at Leeden National Oxygen was killed in an explosion caused by a faulty valve on a gas cylinder. She had just returned from maternity leave and left behind a husband and baby daughter. |
Trust Ncube | 2016, Nkulumane, Zimbabwe. A teacher died at Mandwandwe High School after inhaling poisonous fumes at the science laboratory. | |
![]() |
Glenn Nix | 2015, Tallahassee, FL. Construction worker killed when a steel cap blew off a high pressure pipe on a cooling device at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at Florida State University. |
Unknown | 2015, Xuzhou, China. A gas explosion killed one graduate student and injured four others in a chemistry lab at the University of Mining and Technology. | |
![]() |
Meng Xiangjian | 2015, Beijing, China. Postdoctoral researcher died in a hydrogen explosion at Tsinghua University. |
Huy Siep | 2015, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. A 34-year-old science teacher was spraying a flammable gas while preparing the classroom for a lesson at the University of Health Sciences. The gas ignited, and the teacher died from smoke inhalation. | |
Dwight Freeman | 2014, San Antonio, TX. 50-year-old technician died at Southwest Research Institute as the result of a lab accident. | |
Vipin and Robin | 2014, Delhi, India. Two technicians in a pathology lab died in a fire caused by a short-circuited air conditioner. | |
Hassan Kamal Hussein | 2014, Doha, Qatar. Lab worker died from explosion in petroleum lab at TAMU-Qatar. | |
Unknown (6) | 2013, Middleburg, South Africa. Six people died in an explosion at the Rolfe Pharmaceutical Laboratory. | |
![]() |
Javier Ortiz | 2013, LaPorte, TX. 30-year-old chemist and father of three died in an explosion at Air Liquide plant. |
![]() |
Carlos Amaral | 2013, North Andover, MA. 51-year-old died from burns following a trimethyliridium explosion in a Dow Lab (formerly Rohm and Hass). |
![]() |
Richard Din | 2012, San Francisco. 25-year-old VA hospital lab worker died from exposure to bacterial strain causing septicemia and meningitis. |
Unknown | 2012, Shanghai. Graduate student at university opened a poison gas cylinder and died from inhalation. | |
Unknown | 2012, Germany. Experienced lab worker died from accidental exposure to trimethylsilyldiazomethane. | |
Adrian Martin | 2011, Menlo Park, CA. Researcher died in lab methane explosion. | |
![]() |
Dr. Nanaj Bhamare | 2011, Aberdeen, MD. Killed at Aberdeen Proving Ground from an explosion. |
Unknown | 2011. A Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak linked to lab exposure sickened 109 people in 38 states and caused one death. | |
![]() |
Michele Dufault | 2011, Connecticut. Died from a lathe accident at Yale. |
Nilamma | 2011, Mysore, India. Alcohol fire. | |
Rajendra Yadav | 2010, New Delhi, India. Scrapyard worker, 35, died disassembling a 3,500kg irradiator containing cobalt-60. | |
Tyson Larson | 2010, Sumi Valley, CA. 28-year old inventor died in explosion at Realm Industries, an alternative fuel research company. | |
![]() |
Richard Folaron | 2010, Tonawanda, NY. Killed in a lab accident at DuPont facility. |
![]() |
Malcolm Casadaban | 2009, Chicago, IL. A researcher at the University of Chicago Medical Center died from exposure to Yersenia Pestis, a plague-related bacterium. |
![]() |
Sheri Sangji | 2009, California. t-butyllithium fire at UCLA. |
Alfredo F. Gutierrez | 2009, Adelphi, MD. Electrocution in lab at ARL (Army Research Laboratory). | |
![]() |
Roland Daigle | 2008, Nova Scotia, Canada. Trimethylsilyldiazomethane poisoning. The lab fume hood was not operating due to roof work on the building. |
Jason Siddell | 2008, New Jersey. 24-year-old chemist died after being exposed to trimethylsilyldiazomethane. | |
Gladys Baralla, Damián Cardarelli, Liliana Giacomelli de Ceballos, Miguel Mattea, Juan Politano, Carlos Ravera | 2007, National University of Río Cuarto, Argentina. Five faculty members and one student (Politano) were killed when someone lit the lighter of an autoclave near a hexane spill, producing a huge explosion. | |
Parish Ashley, Charles Bolchoz, Robert Gallagher, Karey Henry | 2007, Explosion at T2 Laboratories in Jacksonville, Florida | |
Dominique Burget | 2006, France. Chemistry professor was killed in an ethane explosion at the National Institute of Higher Learning in Chemistry at Mulhouse. | |
Unknown (5) | 2005, Zhejiang Province, China. Five people were killed and two others injured in an explosion in a lab of Jusheng Fluorine Chemical Corp. | |
![]() |
Tarun K. Mal | 2005, Cleveland State University. Biology professor was electrocuted when he used a "cheater plug" (electrical adapter that converts a three-pronged plug for a two-pronged outlet) to plug in a homemade grow lamp that had a defective ballast. |
Unknown | 2005, Moltech Power Systems, Taiwan. A fatal silane explosion occurred during a SiN3-deposition process. | |
Kenton Joel Carnegie | 2005, University of Waterloo, Canada. A geological engineering student died in a wolf attack during field work in Athabasca basin (northern Saskatchewan). | |
Antonina Presnyakova | 2004, Russia. A researcher at Russian biological weapons research facility VECTOR died after accidentally pricking herself with a needle contaminated with Ebola virus. | |
Tracy Kraling | 2004, St. Paul, Minnesota, Vet Tech Hospital. Employee was trapped inside walk-in steam washer used to clean animal cages while the washer was in the final rinse cycle and was fatally burned. | |
Unknown | 2003, Rochester, NY, Industrial lab explosion. | |
![]() |
Scott Spjut | 2003, West Valley City, UT, Forensic scientist, rifle discharge. |
Robert Goldhammer | 2003, University of Texas, Geology Department, Assistant Professor was killed when his vehicle rolled over on the way to the field camp. | |
Raquel Vieira de Savariego | 2003, University of Texas, Geology Department. Visiting scholar was killed when his vehicle rolled over on the way to the field camp. | |
Michal Wilgocki | 2001, Wrocław, Poland, University of Wrocław chemistry professor killed in lab explosion. | |
Unknown (8) | 2001-1985, Journal of Clinical Microbiology report (2005) eight fatal lab infections from meningitis bacteria. Six were in USA. | |
![]() |
Set Van Nguyen | 2001, Australia Animal Health Laboratory. Nitrogen suffocation. |
Paul Ambrose | 2000, New York City, Presbyterian Hospital. Nitrogen suffocation. | |
James Graham | 1999, Scotland, Nitrogen suffocation. | |
John Moeck | 1999, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Agat Laboratories. Toluene inhalation death. | |
![]() |
Julian Szeicz | 1998, Queen University (Canada), Geology professor killed in avalanche. |
Jeremiah Nix | 1997, Franklin County, GA. High school senior electrocuted in science class while learning to use a volt meter. | |
![]() |
Elizabeth Griffin | 1997, Atlanta, GA. Yerkes Primate Center. Griffin was working with Rhesus monkeys infected with Herpes B virus. One monkey flung some debris from its cage that hit Griffin in the eye. Griffin contracted the disease and died six weeks later. |
![]() |
Karen Wetterhahn | 1997, Dartmouth College. Wetterhahn was working with a dimethylmercury compound using latex gloves. Latex does not provide sufficient protection from the chemical and she died of mercury poisoning. |
![]() |
Richard Leung Wai-cheuk | 1996, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Leung, a 25-year-old grad student, went to the laboratory to see if he could help after two bottles of chemicals were broken. His eyes began burning, and he unwittingly walked into the lab in which the spill had occurred to wash his eyes, where he succumbed to the fumes. The chemicals were later determined to be acryloyl chloride and methacrylic anhydride. |
Ray Rudelis | 1996, Florida Petroleum Research Lab, Acetylene explosion. | |
![]() |
Michael Hanly | 1996, New York City. Discarded hydrofluoric acid killed sanitation worker |
Unknown | 1994, Collegeville, PA. Sterling Winthrop Pharmaceutical. Electrocution. | |
Unknown | 1994, Western Australia. Palynolab Resources PTY LTD lab technician dies from 70% HF exposure. | |
Dennis Park | 1993, Elkton, MD, Thiokol, Rotary evaporator flask explosion. | |
Unknown | 1993, Pasadena, TX, High school student drowned on biology field trip. | |
![]() |
Jeanne Messier | 1993, Reno, NV. UCSD biology grad student contracted hantavirus in field work. |
Unknown | 1992, Stanford Research Institute, CA. Hydrogen/oxygen explosion. | |
Andrew Riley | 1992, Menlo Park, CA. A cold fusion cell at Stanford Research Institute blew up while the British electrochemist was bending over it, killing him instantly. | |
Unknown (2) | 1992, Hong Kong. University instructor and grad student suffocated in cold room when liquid nitrogen spilled. | |
Ralph "Corky" Soldato | 1992, Pittsfield, MA. GE Plastics Research Center. Centrifuge explosion. | |
Ron Reese | 1992, Philadelphia, PA. A steam autoclave exploded, and the door hit Ron Reese in the head. | |
Unknown | 1992, Edwardsville, IL. Hydrogen explosion while drying solvent at Southern Illinois University. | |
Dr. Theo Annin | 1991, Western Ontario University. Ether fire in fume hood. | |
Unknown | 1991, Checotah, OK. Cyanide poisoning. | |
Unknown (2) | 1991, Osaka University. Silane cylinder contaminated with nitrous oxide exploded, killing two graduate students. | |
Unknown | 1990, New Jersey physics student electrocuted. | |
Unknown | 1990, Okinawa, Japan, High school student drowns during oceanography class. | |
Unknown | 1989, Japan. A silane explosion in a gas cabinet killed one worker. | |
Unknown | 1989, New Jersey. High school student electrocuted working on TV set in physics class. | |
Unknown (2) | 1989, Michigan. Two analysts die from exposure to Herpes B virus in lab. | |
Nikolai Ustinov | 1988, Koltsovo, Russia. A researcher studying Marburg virus accidentally pricked himself with a syringe containing the virus. | |
Danny Talbot, Bernard Lemay, André Nol, John Kingston | 1988, McMasterville, Quebec. CIL Explosives & Tech Center lab explosion killed four. | |
Unknown | 1988, California high school custodian went into coma and died following inhalation of old chemicals discarded in dumpster by new high school teacher. | |
Lou Molinini, Steven Carveillas and Dennis Feeney | 1988, Berkley Heights, NJ. Silane explosion at Gollob Analytical Services chemical testing plant. | |
Unknown | 1986, Moscow. Friendship Moscow State University Chemistry and Chemical Engineering building fire killed Ph.D. student from India. | |
Unknown | 1985, Bedford, MA. Lincoln Lab worker dies from exposure to undetected arsine leak. | |
Robert J. Long | 1984, Tamaqua, PA. Research and development laboratory employee killed in explosion at Atlas Powder Company. | |
Unknown | 1984, Minneapolis. Autoclave exploded when 19-year-old opened it. | |
Helena Zinger | 1984, Antwerp, Belgium. Died in unidentified lab accident. | |
Unknown | 1983, San Antonio, TX. Lee High School student electrocuted in science lab. | |
Unknown | 1983, San Francisco, CA. Maintenance worker died from exposure to Q-Fever from sheep used in lab experiments at UCSF Medical Center. | |
Unknown | 1982, Golden, CO. Engineering graduate student died from exposure to hydrogen sulfide at Colorado School of Mines. | |
Unknown | 1982, Michigan. Lab technician died from burns sustained from being trapped in cage cleaning autoclave. | |
Unknown (2) | 1981, Corning, NY. Sullivan Research Facility hydrofluoric acid tank leaked. Two killed in clean-up. | |
Unknown | 1981, San Antonio, TX. High School Student electrocuted in science lab. | |
Unknown | 1981, Kazakstan, Russia. Ether explosion in refrigerator at the National Academy of Science. | |
Unknown | 1980. A report in the Jan. 28, 1982 Kansas City Times said a U.S. commission found reports of 61 school lab-related injuries over a three-year period. Chemical burns accounted for 39 of these; there were 12 cases of dermatitis, and one death due to carbon monoxide. | |
Unknown | 1980, Boston, MA. Female student died drinking water from a lab faucet in a “clean” beaker at the University of Massachusetts. | |
Sunny Su | 1979, Dartmouth, MA. Graduate student died in solvent explosion and fire at the University of Massachusetts. | |
Unknown (64) | 1979, Sverdlovsk, Russia. The exact number of victims remains unknown due to government coverup, but it could be as many as 100 who died from exposure to anthrax at a biological weapons lab when someone forgot to install a filter on an exhaust. | |
Unknown | 1979, Arizona State University. Organic extraction solvent fire killed graduate student in geochemist’s laboratory. | |
Unknown | 1979, Washington State University. High school student died when the nitroglycerine he had synthesized blew up in his pocket on the way to the football field. | |
Unknown | 1978, College Park, MD. Custodian died in closet making carbon dioxide “smoke” from dry ice for a Halloween party at Baptist Community School. | |
![]() |
Janet Parker | 1978, Medical School at Birmingham University (UK), 40-year-old medical photographer died from laboratory exposure to smallpox. |
Unknown (54) | 1963-1977, Nigeria. A report compiling a number of laboratory-acquired viral infections at the Virus Research Laboratory in Ibadan, Nigeria, details 54 deaths. | |
Unknown | 1976, UK. A lab worker died of Ebola after being accidently stuck by a contaminated needle. | |
Unknown | 1976, Texas high school student died of injuries sustained in alcohol fire. He was trying to refill the lamp while it was still lit. | |
Unknown | 1976, Arizona State University graduate student was trapped in lab fire. | |
Unknown | 1976, Enschede, Netherlands. Organic chemist died of edema from methylfluorosulfate exposure at Technische Hogeschool Twente. | |
Unknown | 1974, Stanford University. Graduate student killed when broken lid flew off vacuum desiccator. | |
Adrian Droog and Wayne Fien | 1973, Brisbane, Australia. Adrian Droog, a 9th-grade teacher at Inala State High School, was demonstrating how to make a rocket using potassium chlorate and sulphur when the mixture exploded. The teacher and a student were killed, and several other students were injured. | |
John Gallant | 1972, Westbrook, ME. High school student electrocuted while learning to use oscilloscope in physics class. | |
Unknown (2) | 1972, London. A 23-year-old laboratory assistant at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine was infected with smallpox virus after harvesting live virus from eggs. She survived, but infected two visitors of a patient in an adjacent bed, both of whom died. | |
Shri Krishna Singh | 1972, Cambridge, MA. MIT grad student electrocuted while working on live circuits. | |
Unknown (2) | 1972, New Haven, CT. Solid propellant explosion kills two lab workers at Olin-Matheson. | |
Unknown (3) | 1971, Russia. Three lab technicians died from smallpox as a result of a field test at a Soviet biological weapons facility on an island in the Aral Sea. | |
Unknown | 1971, Seattle, WA. P-Chem undergraduate killed in explosion from while pouring waste solvent at the University of Washington. | |
Unknown | 1969, Seattle. Sodium explosion in physical chemistry lab kills student at University of Washington. | |
Ray Kemp | 1968-9, Columbus, OH. Potassium cyanide poisoning at Ohio State University. | |
Unknown (7) | 1967, Marburg, Germany. Seven patients died from lab worker exposure to virus from infected Grivet monkeys from Uganda. | |
Unknown (5) | 1966, St. Fons, France. A laboratory explosion at Rhone-Poulenc Chemical killed at least five persons. The cause of the explosion could not be determined. | |
Unknown | 1966, Port Evan, NY. Chemist killed in explosion at Hercules Powder Company. | |
Unknown | 1966, Selden, NY. Suffolk Community College lab instructor died from injuries sustained when he dropped a jar of sodium. | |
Unknown | 1966, Princeton, NJ. Princeton University graduate student killed when struck by unchained gas cylinder that fell, sheared off valve and went through a cinderblock wall. | |
Unknown | 1966, Providence, RI. Brown University biology graduate student electrocuted doing electrophoresis. | |
Unknown | 1965, Wroclaw, Poland. Explosion kills chemistry department student at University of Poland. | |
Unknown | 1963, Alabama. Solid propellant explosion at Morton Thiokol. | |
Emil Grubbe | 1960. Possibly first doctor to use x-rays in the treatment of cancer, he died of cancer caused by exposure to x-ray radiation. | |
![]() |
Leo Guerin | 1959, Los Alamos, NM. Explosion killed 35 year old lab worker while drilling small holes into plastic explosive with a soldered hypodermic needle with a cutting tip at Los Alamos National Laboratory. |
![]() |
Ray Means | 1959, Los Alamos, NM. Explosion killed 31 year old lab worker who was standing next to Leo Guerin. |
![]() |
Jose C. Cordova | 1959, Los Alamos, NM. Four workers died while preparing to burn 300 pounds of scraps and sawdust-like explosive residue at Los Alamos National Laboratory. |
![]() |
Sevedeo Lujan | 1959, Los Alamos, NM. Four workers died while preparing to burn 300 pounds of scraps and sawdust-like explosive residue at Los Alamos National Laboratory. |
![]() |
Escolastico Martinez | 1959, Los Alamos, NM. Four workers died while preparing to burn 300 pounds of scraps and sawdust-like explosive residue at Los Alamos National Laboratory. |
![]() |
Leopoldo F. Pacheco | 1959, Los Alamos, NM. Four workers died while preparing to burn 300 pounds of scraps and sawdust-like explosive residue at Los Alamos National Laboratory. |
Cecil Kelley | 1958, Los Alamos, NM. Kelley was standing on a ladder to stir a vat that included plutonium residue at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The plutonium became too concentrated and reached a critical mass. | |
![]() |
Harlow Mork | 1958, Michigan State University, Graduate student killed when distilling thiophene detonated in chemistry lab. |
![]() |
Frédéric Joliot-Curie | 1958, Paris. Husband of Irene Joliot-Curie and Nobel Laureate in Chemistry for 1935. Died of liver disease resulting from overexposure to radiation. |
Dr. Thomas Patterson | 1958, Woodstock, IL. Killed in explosion handling glass flask that possibly had contained ether at Morton Salt. | |
![]() |
Reed Hurst | 1958, Huntsville, AL. Hurst was working alone as a chemist at the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (Redstone Arsenal). He poured a beaker of chemicals into a drain that had not been properly cleaned before his shift. The two substances reacted and caused an explosion that led to his death. |
Dr. M.S. | 1957, National Viral laboratory, National Health and Welfare Canada, a 31 year-old male laboratory worker (Dr. M.S.) died from Herpes B infection. He was engaged in the production of polio vaccine with Rhesus monkeys. This case is reported in the Can. Med. Assoc. J. Vol. 79, Nov 1958. | |
![]() |
Irène Joliot-Curie | 1956, Paris. Daughter of Marie Curie and Nobel Laureate in Chemistry for 1935. Died of leukemia resulting from overexposure to radiation. A 1946 laboratory explosion of a capsule of polonium is thought to have been a direct cause. |
![]() |
Candalario Esquibel | 1956, Los Alamos National Laboratory, 29-year-old died instantly when 50 pounds of explosive detonated while he was scraping dried powder from oven trays to store in glass bottles. |
Unknown | 1956. A research chemist’s unauthorized experiment exploded, killing a colleague. | |
Oliver Blaber | 1956, Bayside, Queens, NY. Sylvania Products Metallurgical Laboratory. Explosions occurred when a hot crucible fell into a barrel of thorium dust powder. Nine people were injured, and one died. | |
Unknown | 1954, Indian Harbor, Indiana. New employee killed trying to cut the top off a 55-gallon drum. It exploded. | |
John Cann Evans | 1953, Letchworth, England. Boy found dead in the laboratory of St. Christopher's School on Tuesday morning. Police have examined a poison bottle from the laboratory. He was a very able lad and was training to be a scientist. | |
Unknown (2) | 1950's, Pittsburg, National Energy Technology Laboratory. Hydrogen explosion killed two researchers. | |
Eugene H. Gough, James Clinton, Alphonso M. Smith, Clonton Irvine | 1951, Washington, D.C. University authorities were trying to get rid of sodium chlorate, an army-surplus chemical that was no longer being used in quantity. A worker grasped the metal handles of a hand truck loaded with pasteboard cartons of the chemical, which caused a static discharge which led to an explosion and fire that cost four lives in the Howard University chemical laboratory. | |
Ardys Pearson and Jack Clifford | 1951, Vermillion, South Dakota. A university secretary and a lab technician died after receiving injections in an experiment testing effectiveness of certain sedatives as pain-controllers at University Medical School. A staff member had accidently given them the wrong drug. | |
Perry Brown | 1950, Boston, MA. X-ray pioneer died due to x-ray exposure. | |
![]() |
Catherine Chamié | 1950, Paris. As a lab assistant to Marie Curie, she transported radioactive sources each day on a cart, shielded poorly by lead bricks. Died from exposure. |
Kenneth Eugene Ramsay | 1950, Brisbane, Australia. Chemistry instructor died from injuries sustained in an explosion while demonstrating the explosive nature of liquid oxygen. | |
![]() |
Louis Slotin | 1946, Los Alamos, NM. Received a fatal dose of neutron radiation while conducting experiments in plutonium critical mass. |
![]() |
Harry Daghlian | 1945, Los Alamos, NM. Lab assistant for Louis Slotin. Received a fatal dose of neutron radiation while conducting experiments in plutonium critical mass. |
Walter Bradford Cannon | 1945. X-ray pioneer died due to x-ray exposure. | |
John Gibbs | 1945, Ballarat, Australia. Chemist asphyxiated by carbon monoxide fumes in the brass foundry laboratory where he worked. | |
![]() |
Peter Bragg | 1944, Philadelphia, PA, Naval Research Lab explosion released radioactive, acidic, scalding steam and gas, killing two Manhattan Project chemists. |
![]() |
Douglas Paul Meigs | 1944, Philadelphia, PA, Naval Research Lab explosion released radioactive, acidic, scalding steam and gas, killing two Manhattan Project chemists. |
![]() |
Sam Ruben | 1943, Berkeley, CA. UC-Berkeley chemist who co-discovered the synthesis of the isotope carbon-14. He was studying the mechanism of phosgene as a poison gas when he was accidentally exposed to it. |
Dora Lush | 1943, Melbourne. A bacteriologist accidentally pricked her finger with a needle containing lethal scrub typhus while attempting to develop a vaccine for the disease. | |
Jerome Danek, Julius Sharpe, Peter Trainer | 1941, Chicago, Illinois. A chemical explosion at Edwal Laboratories that killed three men and injured six was attributed to spontaneous decomposition of mustard oil that was being processed in a 150-gallon drum contained in a steam pressure jacket. | |
John Joy | 1939, Melbourne. Died from severe acid burns sustained in a chemical explosion. | |
![]() |
Ross Amos Hull | 1938, New York. Australian-American radio engineer. Electrocuted in his laboratory while conducting experiments with television apparatus. |
Unknown | 1940, Illinois, Graduate student killed in explosion of chemicals stored in a household refrigerator. | |
![]() |
Marie Curie | 1934, Skłodowska eastern France, from aplastic anemia contracted from exposure to radiation. |
![]() |
Fredrick Baetjer | 1933, Baltimore, MD. X-ray pioneer died due to x-ray exposure. |
![]() |
Reinhold Tiling, Angela Buddenboehmer, and Friedrich Kuhr | 1933, Osnabrück, Germany. Rocket engineer, his assistant and mechanic died of burns sustained in an explosion when solid propellant was overheated during preparation. |
William Brebner and 20 others | 1932, New York. A bacteriologist studying polio at the Rockefeller Institute was bitten on the hand by a rhesus macaque. He later died from a virus his famous colleague Albert Sabin later named "B" virus, after Brebner. Since then, approximately 20 others have died of Monkey B virus, almost all of them from laboratory-acquired infections. | |
Silas Wilson | 1932, Adelaide, Australia. Died from burns following an explosion caused when water came in contact with phenol being heated to a high temperature. | |
Unknown (168) | 1930-1978, 168 deaths from laboratory-acquired infections (C.H. Collins, Laboratory Acquired Infections, Buttersworth, 1988) | |
Unknown (at least 19) | 1930, Medellin, Colombia. At least 19 children were killed by poor-quality diphtheria vaccine due to a laboratory error. | |
Unknown | 1929, Hungary, Science teacher killed in demonstration involving potassium metal. | |
![]() |
Alexander Bogdanov | 1928, Moscow. Performed early experiments in blood transfusion—on himself. Died from tuberculosis and malaria from donated blood. |
Unknown (2) | 1928, Dahlen, Saxony, Germany. Two people were killed in an explosion in a chemist's home laboratory. | |
Mr. Stammer | 1928, Berlin. Killed in an explosion while manufacturing mercury fulminate in an unauthorized laboratory. | |
Unknown (at least 18) | 1928, Berlin. Killed in an explosion caused by the unauthorized manufacture of chemical detonators. | |
![]() |
Robert Machlett | 1926. X-ray pioneer died due to x-ray exposure. |
Surendra Nath Dhar | 1923, Madras, India. Killed by accidental inhalation (or ingestion) of potassium cyanide at the Civil Engineering College. | |
Atherton Kinsley Dunbar | 1922, Cambridge, MA. Killed by an explosion in Harvard's Cryogenic Engineering Laboratory when high-pressure oxygen being pumped into a gas cylinder came in contact with residual lubricating oil in the cylinder. | |
William Connell | 1922, Cambridge, MA. Killed by an explosion in Harvard's Cryogenic Engineering Laboratory when high-pressure oxygen being pumped into a gas cylinder came in contact with residual lubricating oil in the cylinder. | |
William Eastman-Spandow | 1922. Columbia University, New York. Killed instantly when an autoclave containing diphenylamine became over-pressurized and exploded. | |
Herbert Robert | 1922, St. Louis. X-ray pioneer died due to x-ray exposure. | |
![]() |
Eugene Caldwell | 1918, New York. X-ray pioneer died due to x-ray exposure. |
![]() |
Walter James Dodd | 1916. X-ray pioneer died due to x-ray exposure. |
Henry Green | 1914. X-ray pioneer died due to x-ray exposure. | |
Burton Eugene Baker | 1913. X-ray pioneer died due to x-ray exposure. | |
Thurman Lester Wagner | 1912. X-ray pioneer died due to x-ray exposure. | |
Henry S. Thurston | 1911, London. Assistant in the University College London bacteriology laboratories. Died from cutaneous anthrax possibly contracted after picking up a test tube containing the bacteria, then touching a scratch on his neck. | |
![]() |
Mihran Kassabian | 1910, Philadelphia. X-ray pioneer died due to x-ray exposure. |
![]() |
Charles Courter Dickinson | 1910, New York. Financier and amateur chemist. Died of pneumonia and heart failure after inhaling toxic vapors while observing an experiment in a friend's laboratory in Scranton, Pennsylvania. |
Rome Vernon Wagner | 1908. X-ray pioneer died due to x-ray exposure. | |
John Bawer | 1908. X-ray pioneer died due to x-ray exposure. | |
Mason Burnett | 1907. Greenville, Ohio. Killed while trying to generate acetylene gas in a high school chemical laboratory. His father, George Burnett, was one of the physicians called to the scene, but he was unable to revive him. | |
William Carl Egelhoff | 1907. X-ray pioneer died due to x-ray exposure. | |
![]() |
Wolfram C. Fuchs | 1907, Chicago. X-ray pioneer died due to x-ray exposure. |
![]() |
Louis Weigel | 1906, X-ray pioneer died due to x-ray exposure. |
John Pierce, Frank Spratford, John Applegate, J.W. Redpath | 1905, Parlin, New Jersey. Four men killed by an explosion at the laboratory of the International Smokeless Powder and Chemical company. | |
Arthur-Honore Radiguet | 1905, Paris. X-ray pioneer died due to x-ray exposure. | |
![]() |
Elizabeth Fleischman-Aschheim | 1905, San Francisco. Began experimenting with an x-ray machine on herself. Her arm was amputated due to x-ray burns before she finally died of cancer. |
Unknown (51) | 1905, Connellsville, Pennsylvania. A huge explosion at Rand Powder Works laboratory killed 51. | |
Unknown | 1905, Zurich, Switzerland. An attendant in the Technical School at Winterthur was handling some bottles filled with oxygen in the laboratory, when there was a sudden explosion. | |
Unknown | 1904, Kronstadt, Russia. The director of a microbiological research laboratory died from plague while experimenting with cultures of bacteria. | |
![]() |
Clarence M. Dally | 1904, New Jersey. Glass blower at Thomas Edison's Menlo Park lab killed by x-ray exposure. Severely burned in 1896, he still worked with x-rays until 1898. His death caused Edison to discontinue radiation work in his lab. |
Arthur Barry Blacker | 1902, London. X-ray pioneer died due to x-ray exposure. | |
W.T. Spivey | 1901, Cambridge, England. Mr. Spivey and Mr. Wood were engaged in research work which involved the mixing of two liquids. Mr. Spivey had previously effected the mixture without sustaining harm, but upon this occasion the liquids superheated whilst being shaken in a flask, and an explosion followed. | |
Unknown (7) | 1899, Copenhagen, Denmark. Seven workmen were killed by an explosion at a military laboratory. | |
Unknown | 1898, Caninbo, Brazil. "Many" soldiers killed in pyrotechnic laboratory explosion. | |
George Halliday, Pat McHugh, John Hastings, Jr., Charles Whiting, James Quigley, William Wager, L. L. Hollway, Frank Auwers, Eugene Dole, Joseph Clifford | 1898, Kalamazoo, Michigan. Ten killed in explosion in Hall Chemical Laboratory. | |
![]() |
Vera Yevstafievna Popova | 1896, Izhevsk, Russia. Chemist died as the result of an explosion while attempting to synthesize methylidynephosphan, an extremely pyrophoric compound. |
Unknown (4) | 1896, Berlin. A chemist and three assistants were killed in an explosion while experimenting with acetylene. | |
Dublin Andeus | 1896, Yonkers, New York. Dublin Andeus, one of the proprietors of the Empire Medicine Factory was instantly killed by the explosion of some vials in his laboratory. | |
Unknown (15) | 1895, Moscow, Russia. Twelve Russian officers and three soldiers were killed in a laboratory explosion. | |
Frank Robinson, Frank Duffy | 1895, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Two people were killed by the explosion of an iron cylinder charged with carbonic acid gas at the chemical laboratory of the Smith, Kline & French company. | |
William Evelyn Liardet | 1893, Melbourne, Australia. Chemist killed by an explosion while experimenting with explosives and nitric acid. | |
Unknown (10) | 1889, Hamburg, Germany. Explosion at Rheine-Prussen Colliery artillery laboratory killed 10 and injured 52. | |
Thomas Bewley | 1889, Dublin, Ireland. Thomas Bewley was one of the partners of Webb and Bewley Shipbuilders. A customer ordered a cylinder of hydrogen and was informed that there were none in stock. Anxious not to let the customer down, Mr. Bewley took an empty cylinder (color-coded red for hydrogen) and filled it with oxygen. The customer did not use the cylinder and returned it to the yard. Mr. Bewley either forgot or overlooked the fact that the red hydrogen cylinder contained oxygen and believing that it was empty, charged it to full pressure with hydrogen. | |
Joseph Wiley, Charles Rhinedollar, Rudolph Lipman | 1888, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mr. Wiley of Wiley & Wallace Chemical Laboratory went to the back basement of his laboratory to sieve some magnesium powder. He was pouring the powder into a dry dish, and it is supposed that friction was then caused or that a drop of acid found its way into the powder. | |
Unknown | 1882, Faribault, Minnesota. Cadet killed in chemical explosion in laboratory of Shuttuck Military School. | |
William Birrill, John McNamara, Thomas Dooley and Hugh Mellyan | 1875, Boston, Massachusetts. Four killed in explosion at pyrotechnics laboratory. | |
E.T. Chapman and 2-3 lab staff | 1872, Ruebeland, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Chemist killed in a laboratory explosion during experiments with methyl nitrate. | |
![]() |
Jérôme Nicklès | 1869, Nancy, France. Chemist attempting to isolate fluorine died of hydrogen fluorine inhalation. |
M. Fontaine | 1869, Paris, France. Explosion of some fifty pounds of picrate of potash, a flammable salt. Fontaine was the discoverer of the preparation and was in the act of sending it to Marseilles to charge marine torpedoes. His only son was the first victim of the accident. | |
William Hart | 1866, Manchester, England. Chemist died in a laboratory accident at Tennant's Chemical Works. | |
Dr. Carl Ulrich and T. Sloper | 1865, London. Chemist and assistant died from inhaling dimethylmercury vapors. | |
Unknown (11) | 1864, Quebec, Canada. One of the workers was outside the door destroying a defective fuse, which discharged backward and ignited some detonating powder inside the laboratory. | |
Unknown | 1863, Heidelberg, Germany. The young son of a university employee entered Robert Bunsen's laboratory without proper supervision. He put an iron tube of rubidium hydroxide in his mouth and it exploded. | |
Martha A. Burley | 1863, Richmond, Virginia. Burley was involved in a laboratory explosion and her body was later found in a river near Haxall's Flour Mills. | |
Thomas G. Stewart and assistant | 1863, Edinburgh. Chemistry and mathematics instructor died of pulmonary edema after inhaling nitric acid fumes when a jar of acid fell and shattered. It was thought he and his assistant's attempts to recover some of the spilled acid directly caused their deaths. | |
Charles Blachford Mansfield and George Coppin | 1855, London. Chemist and assistant died of burns following the explosion of a naphtha still. | |
James Heywood | 1854, Sheffield, England. Chemist died of pulmonary edema after inhaling acid fumes when a glass carboy containing a mixture of nitric and sulfuric acids fell and shattered. | |
![]() |
Pauline Louyet | 1850, Brussels, Belgium. Chemist attempting to isolate fluorine died of hydrogen fluorine inhalation. |
Julius Bescherer | 1849, Rudolstadt, Germany. Chemist and university lecturer was killed while preparing some hydrogen cyanide. | |
James Daily | 1846, Portsmouth, Virginia. Explosion of detonating powder at Navy Yard laboratory. | |
Henry Hennell | 1842, London. Chemist killed in a violent explosion while manufacturing roughly six pounds of mercury fulminate. | |
Mr. Hervig | 1840, Paris. Laboratory assistant in the School of Pharmacy. Killed by the explosion of an apparatus used to generate carbonic acid. | |
Felix-Polydore Boullay | 1835, Paris. Chemist died from the effects of severe burns sustained in a November 1830 explosion, caused by accidentally holding a bottle of diethyl ether near an open flame. | |
![]() |
Adolph Ferdinand Gehlen | 1815, Munich. Chemist died from inhaling arsine fumes during an experiment. |
![]() |
Bertrand Pelletier | 1797, Paris. Chemist died of tuberculosis and damaged lungs from excessive exposure to phosphorus and chlorine fumes. |
Mr. Letors and Ms. Chevraud | 1788, Essonnes, France. Killed by an explosion during a gunpowder manufacturing experiment conducted by Claude-Louis Berthollet and Antoine Lavoisier, in which 20 pounds of potassium chlorate were mixed with gunpowder. | |
![]() |
Carl Scheele | 1786, Köping, Sweden. Scheele was known to smell and taste any new substances he discovered. Cumulative exposure to arsenic, mercury, lead, and perhaps hydrofluoric acid which he had discovered, took their toll on Scheele. Doctors said he died of mercury poisoning. |
![]() |
Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier | 1785, Wimille, France. Conducted early aviation experiments using hot air balloons. Died when his balloon suddenly caught fire, deflated and fell from the sky. |
![]() |
Johann Gottlob Lehmann | 1767, St. Petersburg, Russia. German geologist died from inhaling arsine fumes after a crucible containing an arsenic compound exploded during heating. |