| Founded | December 10, 1969 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Dr. M. Coleman Harris, Edgar Swank, Dr. Grace Talbot, Jerome B. White[1] |
| 94-2398719 | |
| Registration no. | C0587199 |
| Focus | Cryonics |
| Location |
|
| Coordinates | 37°22′17.1048″N 122°2′8.718″W / 37.371418000°N 122.03575500°W |
| Website | americancryonics |
Formerly called | Bay Area Cryonics Society |
The American Cryonics Society (ACS), also known as the Cryonics Society of America, is a member-run, California-based, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization that supports and promotes research and education into cryonics and cryobiology. Cryonics is the low-temperature freezing (usually at −196 °C or −320.8 °F or 77.1 K) and storage of a human corpse or severed head, with the speculative hope that resurrection may be possible in the future.[2][3]
The American Cryonics Society is the oldest cryonics organization still in existence.[4]
History
The American Cryonics Society was first incorporated in 1969 in San Francisco as the Bay Area Cryonics Society (BACS);[5] its name was changed to the American Cryonics Society in 1985. The founding of the company followed over two years of organizational meetings by cryonics activists. Signers of the founding charter included two well-known Bay Area physicians, Dr. M. Coleman Harris, and Dr. Grace Talbot. The 1969 incorporation date makes it the oldest cryonics society still in existence. The Immortalist Society (IS), with which the American Cryonics Society works closely, is a successor to the Cryonics Society of Michigan whose founding predates that of the American Cryonics Society. [6]
In 1978, the Cryonics Society of America researchers collaborated with Jerry Leaf of Cryovita Laboratories in experiments that would apply the methodology to cryonic suspensions that were then in use as surgical procedures to treat patients with heart disease. Thus a team led by a thoracic surgeon and a perfusionist would use cardio-pulmonary resuscitation equipment and blood-pumps to quickly cool a patient, and replace his blood with a blood substitute containing cryoprotectants. For several years thereafter, Cryovita Laboratories led by Jerry Leaf and Mike Darwin, were responsible for the initial cryonic suspension of patients of the American Cryonics Society, which were then perfused, transported, and kept in cryogenic storage by Trans Time.[5]
In 2002 when CryoSpan opted to close down its long-term cryogenic storage operations, 10 ACS patients and a number of pets were transferred to the Cryonics Institute (CI) facility in Michigan.[6] The American Cryonics Society had contracted with CI for the long-term cryogenic storage of a number of other members prior to the 2002 patient transfer. The ACS inspects CI yearly to ensure ACS quality standards are met.[7] The extra funds charged to ACS members beyond CI minimums could be used for moving the patients in the future if necessary, or other uses.[7]
See also
References
- ↑ Swank, Edgar (October 2010). "The top 13 reasons to join ACS". Retrieved 2011-02-11.
- ↑ McKie, Robin (13 July 2002). "Cold facts about cryonics". The Observer. Archived from the original on 8 July 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
Cryonics, which began in the Sixties, is the freezing – usually in liquid nitrogen – of human beings who have been legally declared dead. The aim of this process is to keep such individuals in a state of refrigerated limbo so that it may become possible in the future to resuscitate them, cure them of the condition that killed them, and then restore them to functioning life in an era when medical science has triumphed over the activities of the Grim Reaper.
- ↑ "Dying is the last thing anyone wants to do – so keep cool and carry on". The Guardian. 10 October 2015. Archived from the original on 3 July 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
- ↑ Guynn, Jessica (2002). "Techies go for ice-cold afterlife". Contra Costa Times. Retrieved 2009-08-26.
- 1 2 Mondragon, Carlos (1994). "Defining the Cryonics Institution". Cryonics and Life Extension Conference. Alcor Life Extension Foundation. Retrieved 2009-08-23.
- 1 2 Best, Ben (2008). "A History of Cryonics". The Immortalist. Cryonics Institute.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - 1 2 Best, Ben (2008). "Revival Assets Seminar" (PDF). The Immortalist. Cryonics Institute. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-11-23. Retrieved 2009-08-26.