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10 Smart people that died in really stupid ways

By Queuebot in Everything Else, Funny on Apr 9, 2009 at 6:40 am


Darwining oneself isn’t limited to toothless rednecks who want you to hold their beer so you can watch this… plenty of smart, talented people have met their end in incredibly dumb ways as well. Here’s 10 of them, in alphabetical order.

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  1. Longshot
    Apr 9th, 2009 at 7:01 am

    I'm not so sure that Tycho Brahe really deserves to be on that list -- according to Gilder & Gilder (2005), analysis of hair samples from Brahe's body in both 1901 and 1996 suggest that he actually died of massive mercury poisoning, and that the burst bladder story was the product of a coverup. Gilder & Gilder take that a step further to suggest that he was murdered.

  2. Evilbeagle
    Apr 9th, 2009 at 7:56 am

    I'd never heard that, Longshot. Thanks for the info as I now have something cool to research. :)

  3. ilovececil
    Apr 9th, 2009 at 8:36 am

    http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2669/hold-it-what-happens-if- you-dont-urinate

  4. atomicsecrets
    Apr 9th, 2009 at 9:14 am

    Can you imagine being a soldier in Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I's army?

    HRE Fred: Damn, I need a drink.

    Knight 1: Wait, sir! You should take off...oh. OH!

    Knight 2: Hey Bill, where's the king?

    Knight 1: Um...(points to the water)

    Knight 2: Huh? Oh...OH!

    Knight 3: Hey guys, where's the king?

    Knights 1&2: (points)

    Knight 3: Well, now what do we do? This whole march through the desert was his idea.

    Later...

    Knight 43: Did you hear about the king? He jumped into the river and drowned!

    Knight 44: What with the what now?

  5. scbr
    Apr 9th, 2009 at 9:21 am

    I wouldn't call most of those people "smart"... maybe talented at something but with a few exceptions most of them do not enter into the category of smart... (the 18 years old Pope? Attila?...)

  6. David Govett
    Apr 9th, 2009 at 11:39 am

    Shoulda called it "Dumb Deaths." The monosyllabic alliteration is perfect.

  7. Josh
    Apr 9th, 2009 at 4:39 pm

    Maybe intelligence doesn't actually confer a survival advantage. Possibly just an evolutionary one-off.

  8. ted
    Apr 10th, 2009 at 11:33 am

    This was a very - erm - eclectic list. Not sure how they were measured as "smart" people.

    The story about Aeschylus is most likely apocryphal, and is more of a joke about baldness than any reflection on his intelligence.

    I did notice no women on the list...?

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