Dr. James Hiram Bedford was a really interesting guy. He was a professor at the University of California and had served in World War I. He lived a full life and got to see many places around the world. However, he is most famous for being the first person to have his body preserved through cryonics, which means keeping a human body (or brain) at super low temperatures after death.
In 1967, Bedford, who had quite a bit of money, found out he had kidney cancer that spread to his lungs. This was back when medical treatments weren’t as advanced as they are now.
At the time of his diagnosis, Bedford was familiar with the concept of cryonic preservation.
He read about in the book The Prospect of Immortality by Dr. Robert Ettinger.
Dr. Ettiger started the Cryonics Institute and is known as the pioneer of freezing bodies for future revival. His institute offers services to freeze bodies after someone dies, hoping that one day, medical advancements will allow them to bring the person back to life when a cure is found for what caused their death.
After learning about this process, Bedford decided he wanted his body to be frozen when he died.
On January 12, 1967, in the afternoon, doctors injected him with dimethyl sulfoxide to safeguard his organs after they removed all the blood from his body.
Next, they placed Bedford in a tank of liquid nitrogen at minus 196 degrees Celsius.
Twenty-four years later, Alcor, a group that specializes in cryonic preservation, examined Bedford’s body to see how well it had been preserved.
They found that the body was in good condition. His nose and mouth had a scent of blood, and his face appeared younger than his age of 73. Some parts of his skin on his chest and neck had strange colors, and his eyes looked icy white like chalk.
Technicians carefully placed Bedford in a new sleeping bag and submerged him in liquid nitrogen to keep him preserved.
Now, more than 50 years after they were supposed to wake him up, Bedford is still just a “mummy.”
Robert Nelson, one of the three scientists who helped with the cryonic preservation, shared that Bedford’s final words were: “I want you to know that I didn’t do this thinking I would come back to life. I did this hoping that my future family will gain from this amazing scientific breakthrough.”
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