Dr. James Hiram Bedford was a man of many talents – a professor at the University of California and a veteran of World War I who lived a fulfilled life and traveled the world. But this man will be best remembered as the first person whose body underwent cryonic preservation. It is the practice of preserving a human body (or brain) at extremely low temperatures after death.
Bedford, who was a rather wealthy man, was diagnosed with kidney cancer that metastasized to his lungs in 1967, a time when the medicine was not as advanced as it is today.
At the time of his diagnosis, Bedford was familiar with the concept of cryonic preservation.
He read about in the book The Prospect of Immortality by Dr. Robert Ettinger.
Dr. Ettiger is the founder of the Cryonics Institute and is considered the father of body freezing experiments. His institute provides body freezing services after death, with the aim of potentially reviving it in the future when medical technology has advanced enough to cure the condition that caused the individual’s death.
Having read about this process, Bedfrod asked his body to be frozen after his passing.
On the afternoon of January 12, 1967, he was injected with dimethyl sulfoxide – to protect his internal organs – after all his blood was drained from his body.
Next, they placed Bedford in a tank of liquid nitrogen at minus 196 degrees Celsius.
Twenty-four years later, Alcor, an organization performing cryonic preservation, opened Bedford’s body and checked his cryogenic condition.
It was determined that the body was preserved nicely. His nose and mouth smelled like blood and his face looked younger than his 73 years. Areas of skin on his chest and neck were discolored and his corneas were the chalky white of ice.
Then, technicians wrapped Bedford in a new sleeping bag and immersed his body in liquid nitrogen to wait.
Today, over 50 years after the promised time to wake Bredford, he’s still just a “mummy.”
According to Robert Nelson, one of three scientist who performed the cryonic preservation, Bredford’s last words were: “I want you to understand that I did not do this with the thought that I would be revived. I did this in the hope that one day my descendants will benefit from this wonderful scientific solution.”
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