Life Extension Society
Encyclopedia
The Life Extension Society (LES) with its network of coordinators was the first cryonics
organization in the world. It was founded by Evan Cooper in 1964 to promote cryonic suspension of people, and became the seed tree for cryonics societies throughout the country where local cryonics advocates would get together as a result of contact through the LES mailing list.
In the same year, but shortly after Cooper's book appeared, Michigan college physics teacher Robert Ettinger
privately published his book The Prospect of Immortality, that independently suggested the same idea. Ettinger came to be credited as the originator of cryonics, perhaps because his book was republished by Doubleday in 1964 on recommendation of Isaac Asimov
and Fred Pohl, and received more publicity. Ettinger also stayed with the movement longer. Nevertheless, cryonics historian R. Michael Perry has written: “Evan Cooper deserves the principal credit for forming an organized cryonics movement.”
Cooper stopped his cryonics activitites by 1970. His former wife Milred said that "he turned away from cryonics because of overload, burn-out, and a general sense that it was not going to be a viable option in his lifetime". The remaining time of his life he spent with sailing, until he got lost at sea in 1983.
Cryonics
Cryonics is the low-temperature preservation of humans and animals who can no longer be sustained by contemporary medicine, with the hope that healing and resuscitation may be possible in the future. Cryopreservation of people or large animals is not reversible with current technology...
organization in the world. It was founded by Evan Cooper in 1964 to promote cryonic suspension of people, and became the seed tree for cryonics societies throughout the country where local cryonics advocates would get together as a result of contact through the LES mailing list.
History
In 1962, Cooper privately published a manuscript named Immortality: Physically, Scientifically, Now under his pseudonym Nathan Duhring. The book is considered by Michael C. Price "a modest, almost apologetic one; the ideas it contains are the stuff of genius and the fabric of change, in it he advocated that men need not be born only to die and that if they were frozen at or near the time of death they might yet have a chance to live again, whole and complete, forever."In the same year, but shortly after Cooper's book appeared, Michigan college physics teacher Robert Ettinger
Robert Ettinger
Robert Chester Wilson Ettinger was an American academic, known as "the father of cryonics" because of the impact of his 1962 book The Prospect of Immortality...
privately published his book The Prospect of Immortality, that independently suggested the same idea. Ettinger came to be credited as the originator of cryonics, perhaps because his book was republished by Doubleday in 1964 on recommendation of Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
and Fred Pohl, and received more publicity. Ettinger also stayed with the movement longer. Nevertheless, cryonics historian R. Michael Perry has written: “Evan Cooper deserves the principal credit for forming an organized cryonics movement.”
Cooper stopped his cryonics activitites by 1970. His former wife Milred said that "he turned away from cryonics because of overload, burn-out, and a general sense that it was not going to be a viable option in his lifetime". The remaining time of his life he spent with sailing, until he got lost at sea in 1983.