Cryonics Institute
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The Cryonics Institute (CI) is an American nonprofit foundation that provides
cryonics Cryonics (from ''kryos'', meaning "cold") is the low-temperature freezing (usually at ) and storage of human remains in the hope that resurrection may be possible in the future. Cryonics is regarded with skepticism by the mainstream scien ...
services. CI freezes deceased humans and pets in liquid nitrogen with the 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 Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
, 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 Clinton Township, Michigan in 1993, where it is currently located. The Cryonics Institute currently has 2180 members worldwide, of which 240 have already been cryopreserved.


Operations and procedures

The cryonics procedure performed by the Cryonics Institute begins with a process called
vitrification Vitrification (, via French ') is the full or partial transformation of a substance into a glass, that is to say, a non- crystalline or amorphous solid. Glasses differ from liquids structurally and glasses possess a higher degree of connectivity ...
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 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 utilizes storage units called cryostats, and each unit contains up to eight 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. The Cryonics Institute also specializes in Human Cryostasis, DNA/Tissue Freezing, Pet
Cryopreservation Cryopreservation or cryoconservation is a process where biological material - cells, tissues, or organs - are frozen to preserve the material for an extended period of time. At low temperatures (typically or using liquid nitrogen) any cell ...
, and
Memorabilia A souvenir (French language, French for 'a remembrance or memory'), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memory, memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collecte ...
Storage. The cryonics institute finances itself through membership dues and donations. The cost for cryopreservation is less than $30,000 but the total costs including logistics might add up to more than $100,000. There are multiple ways to cover the cost of cryopreservation, like special life insurance policies.


See also

* Information-theoretic death


References

{{Cryonics, state=expanded 1976 establishments in Michigan Cryonics organizations in the United States