James Bedford

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James Hiram Bedford ( April 20, 1893 , † January 12, 1967 ) was an American psychology professor at the University of California who wrote books on career choices. He is the first person to be cryopreserved after natural death and is still cryopreserved at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation to this day . In the cryonics community , the anniversary of this cryopreservation is celebrated as “Bedford Day”.

Cryonic body preservation

In June 1965, Ev Cooper's Life Extension Society (LES) offered the opportunity to preserve a person for free. The message was that “the LIFE Extension Community (LES) now has simple facilities for short-term emergency freezing and storage of our friend the human.” Bedford seized the opportunity and was established as a candidate. Bedford suffered from kidney cancer which later metastasized to the lungs, which was incurable at the time. Bedford's will was to leave US $ 100,000 for cryonic research. But Bedford's wife and son needed more than that amount to defend his will and cryopreservation in court against opposition from skeptics.

Bedford's body was frozen a few hours after natural cancer death. His body was cryonically preserved by Robert Prehoda (author of the book "Suspended Animation" published in 1969), Dante Brunol (medical doctor and biophysicist) and Robert Nelson (President of the Cryonics Society of California ). Nelson then wrote a book on the subject called, "We Froze the First Man". Modern cryonics organizations perfuse cryonics patients with a propylene-based (cryoprotective) ice blocker to prevent ice crystal formation. However, the use of cryoprotectants in Bedford's case was still very simple. He was only injected with DMSO , so it is unlikely that his brain was protected. Vitrification was not possible at that time. During its initial storage period, his body was held at Edward Hope's Cryo-Care Facility in Phoenix , Arizona for two years and then transported to the Galiso Facility in California in 1969. Bedford was then transported from Galiso to Trans Time near Berkeley , California, in 1973 and stored there until 1977 before his son kept it for many years.

Bedford's body was preserved in liquid nitrogen by his family in Southern California until 1982. He was then taken to the Alcor Life Extension Foundation , in whose care he is being kept. The condition of his body was examined in May 1991 when he was transferred to a new dewar . The examination showed that "it was likely that its external temperature remained relatively well below freezing point during the storage period."

Private life

Bedford married twice. His first wife, Anna Chandler Rice, died in 1917, the same year she and Bedford married. In 1920 Bedford married his second wife, Ruby McLagan. Bedford and McLagan had five children together: Doris, Donald, Frances, Barbara and Norman. James Bedford loved traveling and photography.

Bibliography

  • Vocational interests of high school students . University of California School of Education, Division of Vocational Education, 1930.
  • Youth and the world's work: Vocational adjustment of youth in the modern world . Society for Occupational Research, 1938.
  • Vocational interests of secondary school students . Society for Occupational Research, University of California Station, 1938.
  • Occupational exploration: A guide to personal and occupational adjustment . Society for Occupational Research, 1941.
  • The veteran and his future job: A guide-book for the veteran . Society for Occupational Research, 1946.
  • Your future job: A guide to personal and occupational orientation of youth . Society for Occupational Research, 1950.
  • Your future job: A guide to personal and occupational orientation of youth in the atomic age . Society for Occupational Research, 1956.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Cook, Robert Cecil, ed .: Who's Who in American Education , 1928, p. 63.
  2. ↑ Mike Perry: A Freezing Before Bedford's. In: Physical Immortality 2 (2) 7 (2nd Q 2004). Depressed metabolism. ( Memento from November 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ GALEN PRESS Medical Book Extras SOULS ON ICE
  4. ↑ Dr James Hiram Bedford . Find a grave . July 26, 2008. Retrieved August 22, 2008.
  5. ↑ a b c d e Dear Dr. Bedford (and those who will care for you after I do) . Cryonics. July 1991. Retrieved August 23, 2009.
  6. ^ R. Michael Perry: Suspension Failures: Lessons from the Early Years . In: Cryonics . Alcor Life Extension Foundation. 1992. Retrieved August 22, 2009.
  7. ^ Evaluation of the Condition of Dr. James H. Bedford After 24 Years of Cryonic Suspension , Alcor Life Extension Foundation . August 1991. Retrieved August 23, 2009. 
personal data
SURNAME Bedford, James
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bedford, James Hiram (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American psychology professor
DATE OF BIRTH April 20, 1893
DATE OF DEATH January 12, 1967