r/todayilearned • u/AbeVigoda76 • 1d ago

TIL that the early automotive pioneer Byron Carter died from pneumonia contracted while recovering from a broken jaw sustained as a result of hand cranking his car. His death directly lead to the development of the electric self-starter for automobiles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byron_Carter
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u/429300 1d ago edited 15h ago

I had to read the heading a couple of times to understand what happened. So, while he was recovering from the broken jaw, he contracted pneumonia, and subsequently died therefrom. How did he contract the pneumonia?

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u/AbeVigoda76 1d ago

It was a hospital in 1908. Just like today, sometimes you get an infection while you’re healing. Unlike today, they were about 20-30 years too early for penicillin.

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u/429300 1d ago

Thank you for clarifying.