Dr Joseph Ignace Guillotin had spent most of his fifty years healing people when he came up with the idea that made him famous.
In 1789, at the height of the
French Revolution, Guillotin suggested using a machine to behead
criminals. His idea was based on the idea that now that
privilege had been abandoned, even poor people should have the opportunity to
die by
beheading. Until the Revolution such a
fate had been reserved to the
nobility. Guillotin also felt death should be as swift and painless as possible.
His idea was taken up with
alacrity by the Revolution. The first
execution using a guillotine, as the machine was called, was carried out on 25 April, 1792. As the Revolution gained momentum, thousands were sent to their deaths on the guillotine. Though undoubtedly efficient as a killing machine, the guillotine never found much favour outside
France (except, apparently, in
Belgium, where it was the form of execution until mid-
World War I -- Thanks
NotBridgetJones).