21 People died thinking they were failures, but history judged otherwise

Innovative ideas are not always appreciated in their time. History is full of examples of people whose work was rejected, discredited or simply ridiculed – only to reach notoriety shortly after the creator’s death. Recently, redditor Bob_the_blacksmith asked, “Who died believing themselves to be failures, but history judged otherwise?” And the answers will make you rethink how you view all the talented people around you.

1. “The mayor of Fudai village, Kotoku Wamura, built a massive and expensive tsunami defense wall and gate system. Fudai was spared when the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami hit in 2011. Unfortunately, Wakura died in 1997, not knowing how many people died with his flood defenses.”

—u/Ub3r_Bland

“He went over budget to get extra height for the walls, while all the townspeople were mad about the waste of tax spending. Only one person died in 2011 – a fisherman who went out to check his boat.” —u/Sergovan

2. “Ludwig Boltzmann was a theoretical physicist who laid the foundations of statistical mechanics, which is essential to understanding fundamental physics today. He spent most of his life defending his theory, which was ridiculed by his peers. He died by suicide before his work was generally accepted by the community, and every undergraduate entered a master’s degree. His tombstone.”

—u/Frisk_Alive

3. “Vincent van Gogh is a great example. He thought he was a failure his whole life, sold almost no paintings, and struggled with mental health. Today, he is celebrated as the greatest painter in history. Wild when you think about it.”

—u/bignigcountry

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4. “Stig Larsson (author The girl with the dragon tattoo) died suddenly before the books were published. Never seen them explode globally. Never watched the movies. Never seen millions of copies sold. He died thinking he was a journalist with a side project.”

—u/Dr-Figgleton

5. “John Kennedy Tull committed suicide after failing to publish his book. A decade after his death, his book, A Union of DuncesPublished and won the Pulitzer Prize.”

—u/DrGeraldBaskum

6. “Alfred Wegener’s continental drift theory was laughed at, because he was seen as an outsider in the scientific community. He died on an expedition without knowing whether his theory was proven true.”

—u/ayam_goreng_kalasan

7. “Ignaz Semmelweis came up with the brilliant idea that doctors should wash their hands before seeing patients, especially women in labor. He discovered this before the germ theory was established and was basically ridiculed by the medical community. He had a mental breakdown and died in an asylum, after getting an infection from a guard.

—u/so-so-it-goes

8. “Robert E. Howard invented and created the fantasy of swords and sorcery Conan the Barbarian. He died by suicide at the age of 30.”

—u/black_flag_4ever

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9. “Georges Bizet died at the age of 36, thinking that his opera, Carmenwas a failure. After his death, it would become the most produced opera of all time.”

—u/NoticeSignificant785

10. “Confucius died believing that his political and moral frameworks for how to live and rule harmoniously would die with him. His students continued his legacy, and Confucian ideas continued to deeply influence norms and values ​​throughout East Asia.”

—u/Intellectual_wizzard

11. “Jonathan Larson, producer of music rentHe died just hours before the show premiered. It’s not quite the same thing, you might say, but he never lived to see his creations recognized as some of the most successful music of his era and to know how many people were truly touched by his work.”

—u/CountySpirited5051

—u/Candy_Beauty105

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13. “Bill Finger died after being cheated out of his artistic credit by Bob Kane. He is now remembered as the co-creator of Batman.”

—u/futuresdawn

14. “Egbert Sen was a Pakistani-born British musician who made extra money working as an extra in British-made films and TV in the 70s and 80s. One of these minor roles was as a man in an orange jumpsuit hastily evacuating Cloud City. The Empire Strikes Back. He died in 2019, never having achieved fame. He was completely unaware that this one minor character would gain a huge cult following among Star Wars fans, purely because he grabbed the ice cream maker and ran like his livelihood depended on it. He was completely unaware that this character’s trading card, the action figure, would be played over and over again by fans.”

—u/Intelligent-Twist874

15. “Aaron Swartz co-founded Reddit and died by suicide after the federal government decided to press charges stacked against him for downloading JSTOR material. He is considered a martyr by many today.”

—u/MkVsTheWorld

16. “F. Scott Fitzgerald died penniless, unaware that his novel, The Great GatsbyGoes on to become the great American novel.”

—u/Dry-Excitement1757

“One of the primary reasons The Great Gatsby D.I.D. became one of the great American novels because the U.S. Army included copies in GI rations during WWII, and suddenly everyone loved it.”

—u/hi_imjoey

17. “Toussaint Louverture, the leader of the Haitian Revolution, did not necessarily see himself as a failure, but he did not live to see the consequences of the slave revolt he led against France. He died in a French prison.”

—u/Fitzgnarl

18. “Alan Turing was criminally persecuted, stripped of his dignity, and thought to have died in disgrace, when in reality he helped save millions of lives and laid the foundation for modern computing.”

—u/Mother-Ad-6360

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19. “Ada Lovelace was a brilliant mathematician who invented computer programming in her teenage years. She worked by correspondence with Charles Babbage on the design of the first computer. They both died before the technology to actually build a computer was developed. Babbage had many other achievements to his name, but Lovelace made a significant contribution to the world without realizing how drinking and drinking would make it.”

—u/Yeti_Detective

20. “Ralph Wood was the architect behind the Causey Arch, which was completed in 1726, and the world’s largest single-span bridge at the time. It remained that way for the next 30 or so years. At its peak, more than 900 horse-trucks crossed it every day! However, Ralph believed the arch would collapse, and it remained until death from 17. Today.”

—u/AnnualAntics

21. “Wounded in the Civil War, Dr. John S. Pemberton became addicted to morphine while trying to treat his illness. So, he invented a drink designed to help cure his addiction. He sold the formula to a business partner and died poor and in obscurity. His drink was not passed out; today, it’s called Coca-Cola.”

—u/HiddenHolding

Can you think of other people who died before seeing the public appreciate their work? Share them in the comments or anonymous form below.

Note: Responses have been edited for length/clarity.

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