Robert Ettinger

Robert Ettinger (1918–2011) was an American academic and author whose book The Prospect of Immortality helped launch modern cryonics. He founded the Cryonics Institute in 1976.

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The Prospect of Immortality: Robert Ettinger’s 1964 book arguing that future medicine might revive people preserved after legal death. This book brought Ettinger’s case for cryonics to a broad audience.
Vitrification: The transformation of a liquid into a glass-like solid without forming crystalline ice. Cryonics uses vitrification to limit ice damage during low-temperature preservation.
Suspended animation: A reversible state in which biological activity is greatly reduced, allowing an organism to resume normal function later. Unlike demonstrated suspended animation, cryonics has not been shown to preserve a person for later revival.
Alcor Life Extension Foundation: An American nonprofit organization that provides cryonics and related biostasis services. Alcor became a prominent institution in the movement Ettinger helped bring into public view.
Cryonics: The low-temperature preservation of legally deceased people or animals in hope that future technology can restore them. Ettinger helped establish cryonics as an organized movement.
Cryoprotectant: A substance that reduces cellular damage caused by freezing or cooling to low temperatures. Cryoprotectants help protect tissues during the preservation process Ettinger advocated.
Cryobiology: The study of the effects of low temperatures on living organisms, cells, and biological materials. Its experimental results provide evidence about preservation limits beyond Ettinger’s arguments.
Cryonics Society of New York: A cryonics organization founded in 1969 that arranged preservation services for members. It shows how Ettinger’s early advocacy was followed by organizations beyond Michigan.
Cryonics Society of Michigan: A cryonics organization founded in Michigan in 1966 by Robert Ettinger and others. It was Ettinger’s first major organizational effort to put his proposal into practice.
Ischemia: Inadequate blood flow that deprives tissue of oxygen and nutrients. The interval after circulation stops can damage the brain before cryonic cooling begins.