10 Famous People Who Suffered Death By Irony

The man who conquered all of the warring states of China and united them under a single banner was also obsessed with alchemy.

In particular he spent much of his life searching for the ever-elusive 'Elixir of Life' in the hopes that he would be able to gain immortality and presumably continue his rule for centuries.

Of course, the field of alchemy - at least in terms of creating an immortality potion - has long-since been discredited, but at the time a lot of ingredients were tried in an effort to concoct the legendary elixir.

Qin Shi Huang's ingredient of choice that he thought would bring him the desired results was Mercury. You can probably already see where this is going.

Today we know just how lethal Mercury is to humans when ingested, yet Qin Shi Huang ingested Mercury pills on a daily basis in an effort to prolong his life. It was this that eventually killed him, with the result being civil unrest and competition for the united China as he had failed to leave a will due to his belief in his pills.