title: The world's first automobile fatality.
abstract: The first recorded automobile fatality occurred in a small town in the Irish Midlands in 1869. Mary Ward, a celebrated microscopist, artist, astronomer and naturalist, fell from a steam carriage and died after crush injuries from its heavy iron wheels. The story of first automobile fatality characterizes the individual tragedy that is each premature death. It also illuminates the story of a remarkable Victorian scientific family. Among their many achievements was the building of a reflector telescope in the heart of rural Ireland that was the largest in the world for 74 years.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Gerontology, Trinity College Dublin, Adelaide and Meath Hospital Dublin, Dublin 24, Ireland.
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fallon
authors.forename: Desmond
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: O'Neill
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D000328:Adult; D001334:Automobile Driving; D001336:Automobiles / Q000266:history*; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000266:history*