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1st suggested
A French physician first suggested that all criminals should be executed by a “machine that beheads painlessly." -
first used
The first guillotining took place on April 25, 1792, when Nicolas Jacques Pelletie was guillotined at Place de Grève on the Right Bank. -
the ex-king was exaquited
Louis XVI had his own head chopped off on January 21, -
1st improved
He added a lock/blocking device at the lunette and a new release mechanism for the blade. All guillotines built after 1870 were made according to Leon Berger's construction -
1st built
Doctor Guillotin together with German engineer and harpsichord maker Tobias Schmidt, built the prototype for an ideal guillotine machine. Schmidt suggested using a diagonal blade instead of a round blade. -
last used
the last execution by guillotine took place in Marseilles, France, when the murderer Hamida Djandoubi was beheaded
