150 years ago today, an Irishwoman became the first person in the world to die in a car crash
It's 150 years since the world's first-ever death in a motor car crash.
Irish scientist Mary Ward died on August 31, 1869, in Birr, Co Offaly.
She died instantly when she fell out of her cousin's steam-powered car and under its wheel.
Ward, who was travelling as a passenger, suffered a broken neck and fractured skull in the accident.
She was a talented, self-taught microbiologist, and the first woman on the Royal Astronomical Society's correspondence list.
You can read the full story of the accident here.
