Joseph-Ignace Guillotin
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- "We all know stories of executions gone awry - ears lopped off and so forth. No, we must have a better way, and thanks to science, that way is at hand. With this machine, built by Tobias Schmidt, I can cut off your head in the twinkling of an eye, and you never feel it!"
- ―Guillotin on the machine named after him, 1789.[src]
Joseph-Ignace Guillotin (28 May 1738 – 26 March 1814) was a doctor and notable figure in French medicine. During the French Revolution, he proposed a more humane and less painful way of execution, leading to the invention of the guillotine.
Biography
In 1789, Guilotin was elected to the Estates-General as a representative for the third estate. He became immensely popular among Parisians for his early support of the vote by headcount, rather than vote by estate. He was also a philanthropist who proposed a reform of the capital punishment, arguing that it apply to everyone in the same way, regardless of social class. As the death sentence had previously been carried out with the sword or breaking wheel, Guillotin sought to create a more humane alternative, hoping it would eventually lead to the complete abolition of capital punishment.