The physician Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, buried at Père-Lachaise, is associated, against his will, with an instrument that bears his name; a persistent legend even claims he fell victim to it himself. What is the truth?
The answer
Guillotin did not invent the guillotine; he merely proposed its use in 1792, as a more humane and egalitarian method of execution. Opposed to the death penalty, he died peacefully at home in 1814. The confusion stems from a physician of the same name who was guillotined in Lyon. His descendants even tried, unsuccessfully, to have the machine renamed.
This question belongs to the “Unusual Stories” series of the Père-Lachaise quiz: ten questions, a story behind every right answer.