Cryonics Institute


Cryonics Institute is an American not-for-profit corporation that provides cryonics services. CI freezes dead humans and pets in liquid nitrogen with the speculative hope of restoring them with technology in the future.

History

The Cryonics Institute was founded by the “Father of Cryonics” Robert Ettinger on April 4, 1976, in Detroit, Michigan, where he served as president until 2003. Ettinger introduced the concept of cryonics with the publication of his book “The Prospect of Immortality” published in 1962. Operations moved to the current location in Clinton Township, Michigan in 1993.

Membership

The Cryonics Institute has almost 2,000 people signed up to be cryopreserved after they die, and 170 already cryopreserved in tanks of liquid nitrogen with Robert Ettinger the 106th who is cryopreserved along with his mother and wives.

Operations and procedures

The cryonics procedure performed by the Cryonics Institute begins with a process called vitrification where the body is perfused with cryoprotective agents to protect against damage in the freezing process. After this, the body is cooled to -196 °C over the course of a day or two days in a computer-controlled chamber before being placed in a long-term storage container filled with liquid nitrogen. The Cryonics Institute calls their storage units cryostats, and each unit contains up to six people. The process can take place only once the person has been declared legally dead. Ideally, the process begins within two minutes of the heart stopping and no more than 15.
In order to revive currently frozen patients in the future, it will be necessary to be able to cure any diseases which lead to death, repair cells damaged in the freezing process, and repair cells damaged by the ageing process.
The Cryonics Institute provides services including Human Cryostatis, DNA/Tissue Freezing, Pet Cryopreservation, and Memorabilia Storage.