Wrong Way on a Segway?
Yesterday, 62-year-old British millionaire Jimi Heselden, owner of Segway Inc., was found dead in the River Wharfe in Northern England. A rugged-country version of his Segway vehicle was found near his feet, and officials speculate he rode the scooter off a cliff to his death in the most improbable of freak accidents.
Unveiled in 2001, the Segway was invented by American entrepreneur, Dean Kamen, who dreamed of launching a transportation revolution. The two-wheeler contains five gyroscopes linked to a set of computers to monitor a rider’s center of gravity. The self-balancing scooter was made famous by then U.S. President George W. Bush who took one for a spin, only to ditch the vehicle after losing control. The Segway never took off as Kamen dreamed, and in December 2009, the company was sold to Jimi Heselden.
Heselden, a former miner who left school at the age of 15, was a self-made businessman. He made his fortune with Leeds-based Hesco Bastion, which developed a flat-pack wire mesh “blast wall” container, replacing the traditional sandbags that were used to stop bullets, missiles and suicide bombers in combat zones. His products are heavily used by coalition troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Heselden was one of Britain’s richest men, with a fortune reportedly at $260 million. He was widely revered for donating millions of pounds to charity.
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Image taken from (http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/09/segway-death/)
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