‘Hindenburg Omen’ creator dies at 54
Jim Miekka, a blind mathematician with no formal financial training who created the well-known "Hindenburg Omen" technical indicator, died this week when he was struck by an SUV in Maine.
Miekka was hit by the car while walking on the side of the road with his guide dog Tuesday morning, The Wall Street Journal reported.
A former high-school physics teacher, Miekka went blind after an explosion from an experiment damaged his eyes, and complications arose during subsequent surgery, according to the Journal. While recovering, he reportedly listened to television shows about investing.
Read More 'Hindenburg Omen' hovered over Wall Street last summer
Although definitions for the Hindenburg Omen vary, it is always a technical indicator triggered by a number of factors including when more than 2.2 percent of stocks on the NYSE hit 52-week highs at the same time that more than 2.2 percent are hitting 52-week lows—the theory being that this indicates investor uncertainty before a potential market crash.
The Omen famously predicted major stock market drops in 1987 and 2008, the Journal reported. Still, the paper notes, large stock declines only followed the indicator's triggering about 25 percent of the time.
Despite the loss of his eyesight, Miekka still regularly practiced target shooting using a sound-based technology, according to the Journal.
—By CNBC staff