A Brief History Of Cryonics

You know what Cryonics is, but do you know the history? Do you know when Cryonics started? Or who the first “frozen” person was?

While Cryonics may seem like a new technology, it has actually been around for far longer than you may expect. This article will cover some of the most important people and events in the history of Cryonics.

Robert Ettinger

So let’s start at the beginning. Robert Ettinger was born in 1918 in New Jersey, as a child he loved reading science fiction magazines. One story that particularly stuck in his mind was “The Jameson Satellite” which first circulated in 1931.

In this story, an eccentric billionaire launches his body into space to be preserved by the freezing temperatures and vacuum of space. His orbiting body is chanced upon by mechanical men who repair and revive his brain and install it into a mechanical body. This idea gripped young Ettinger. He presumed that scientists would, before he grew old, find a similar technology and discover a way to conquer immortality.

During the Second World War he served as a Second Lieutenant Infantryman and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. It was here that he was struck by artillery fire and severely damaged his leg. Doctors were not hopeful about the prospects of ever walking again.

Ettinger’s father was dissatisfied with medicine’s capabilities and searched for state of the art solutions and came across bone grafting. It was this breakthrough technology that saved Ettinger’s legs. But, it also showed Ettinger that there is always hope for today’s problems tomorrow.

When he returned home from the war, Ettinger attended University in Michigan and earned two master’s degrees; one in Physics and one in Mathematics. Then, in 1960, he finally put forward the scientific concept behind Cryonics.

It wasn’t until 1962 that he wrote his book The Prospects of Immortality. It was published in 1964 and gained enormous amounts of popularity. In the book, Ettinger outlines how people may be preserved using extremely low temperatures.

He used his extensive scientific knowledge and love of the field to map out potential impacts of the development of cryonics. This book earned Ettinger the label ‘the father of Cryonics’. But he was not the first to benefit from its conception.

James Bedford

James Bedford was the first known person to be cryopreserved. An unknown woman was cryopreserved before him, but the procedure was a failure and she was cremated a few days afterwards. Bedford died in 1967 at the age of 73 after suffering from kidney cancer that had spread to his lungs. Immediately after his death was declared, he was cryopreserved.

So why did James Bedford “freeze” himself? In 1964, an early Cryonics organization called the Life Extension Society had offered a free service for anyone that wanted to have it done. Bedford, at the time, did not show his interest, but the idea resonated with him. When he was eventually diagnosed with untreatable cancer, he decided to use his own funds to see if it was possible. What did he have to lose?

Because he was the first person to ever have the procedure successfully carried out upon him, the methods and techniques used were basic. Cryopreservation was not a common practise and it was even more uncommon to store people in liquid nitrogen. Needless to say, he experienced some complications during the first few years in storage, as the technology was still being understood. Alcor has a very informative and personal account of his story here.

Following a few journeys during the formative years of the industry we are now a part of, Bedford was finally housed at Alcor Life Extension Foundation (see below) in 1987. The cost of his prolonged care has been taken on by Alcor as a goodwill to the brave first participant.

In 1991, he was transferred from an individual horizontal dewar to a multi-person vertical dewar. In the process he was examined to see his condition, the findings suggest he is doing well considering the immaturity of the technology that was used on him.

Chatsworth

History is never a simple path to success. For the cryonics industry, this was definitely the case too. But we must always acknowledge and learn from history. The events that transpired at the Chatsworth facility propelled all involved in the Cryonics industry to never let such things happen again.

In the early days of Cryonics, it was not easy to preserve people and even harder to maintain them in that state. Initially, bodies were kept on dry ice at mortuaries. But one man who attempted to resolve this issue was Robert Nelson, the man who had helped carry out the cryopreservation of James Bedford. Although Bedford was discharged to the care of his son who maintained his father until eventually entrusting Alcor.

Nelson offered to maintain all those who had signed up with various initial cryonics societies who wished to be cryopreserved. He bought an underground vault at a cemetery in Chatsworth in North L.A.. All (9 in total) cryopreserved patients were transferred to Chatsworth for Nelson to maintain. But slowly, the funds that Nelson had access to began to limit his capabilities.

In 1971, a vacuum pump failure at Chatsworth meant that all 9 people thawed out. Nelson was sued by families of the victims and forced out of the industry that he had tried so hard to help. You can read more about his story here.

But The Chatsworth Disaster taught the Cryonics industry valuable lessons about care, fund management and security. So, organizations were set up to stop things like this from ever happening again.

Alcor

As the popularity of Cryonics grew after The Prospects of Immortality was circulated widely — new organizations were founded to help with the increasing interest. One such organization was Alcor.

Alcor was founded by Fred and Linda Chamberlain in California in 1972. The company took its name from a star that had just the right brightness that it was used as a test for clear vision. A fitting metaphor for those that are able to see and believe in the prospects of Cryonics.

In 1976, their first whole body cryopreservation was carried out on Fred Chamberlain’s father. But, the following few decades saw a slow growth in membership. In 1985 they had 50 members and had cryopreserved 3 patients. But by 1990, membership rocketed to 300, and there were fears that their facility in California would be too small. As a result, Alcor relocated to Arizona in 1994, the least prone state to natural disasters.

How many cryonics patients does Alcor have? Well, they are the largest Cryonics organization in the world with more than 1300 members and 180 patients currently cryopreserved.

Cryonics Institute

In 1976, in Detroit, Michigan, Ettinger founded the Cryonics Institute (C.I.). This is a non-profit organization designed to realise the theories that he had written about in his book. He wanted to create an organization that provided a whole body cryopreservation service for a reasonable price. He served as president there until 2003 when he wanted to take some time out of the public eye.

In 2011, Ettinger was cryopreserved at C.I. where he remains to this day. C.I. offers the most affordable Cryopreservation plan in America, starting at $28,000 — however this price does not cover transport to their facility.

Tomorrow Biostasis

Our CEO and founder Dr. Emil Kendziorra was moved greatly by Ettinger’s The Prospects of Immortality. After reading it, he knew that human Biostasis deserved his complete attention.

However, he quickly realized that there was no organization in Europe that provided a whole body cryopreservation service. It was for this reason that he set up Tomorrow Biostasis. We are the only organization in Europe that focuses on Europe.