Francois Delambre was an unfortunate man who saw both his brother and his nephew damaged by enthusiasm for science. His brother Andre, discoverer of the method of teleportation through disintegration-reintegration, was a victim of an accident in his own machine, and took his life to avoid the horror of a mutilated body. Although he tried to comfort Andre's widow (with whom he too, was in love), she finally succumbed to a sense of horror for her role in Andre's death. A similar catastrophe took place when Andre's son Phillippe tried to recreate the experiment, although with less final results.