Joseph-Ignace Guillotin was born on the 28th of May 1738 in France. He was a politician, physician and freemason. He was born prematurely because his mother heard the screams of a man tortured to death, which caused her great distress. Later in his life, Joseph-Ignace introduced the idea of the guillotine as a less-painful method of executing people. ¹⁾.