The guillotine was invented as an act of mercy, by a doctor who opposed the death penalty
In 1789, physician Joseph-Ignace Guillotin proposed that France replace its brutal, class-based methods of execution with a single swift mechanical device available to everyone regardless of rank. He personally opposed capital punishment altogether and never built the machine himself; that credit belongs to fellow physician Antoine Louis and a German engineer. Guillotin spent the rest of his life trying, unsuccessfully, to get his own name detached from it.