50 years later, no one expected

More than 50 years have passed, and everyone wants to know whether that man can be revived or not, and whether modern advanced human can create miracles or not. Can humans possess the technology to revive a dead person? That is the question that many people want to have an answer to. And half a century ago, Dr. James Hiram Bedford also hoped so. With a strong desire to live, the man volunteered to freeze his body with a promise to be revived in 2017.

3 years have passed since that important milestone, everyone wants to know what happened to the man who was once considered the richest man in America…

James Hiram Bedford is a psychology professor at the University of California and a veteran of World War I. He lived a full life in the mid-20th century, married twice and set foot in many lands around the world. He hunted in Africa, went to the Amazon rainforest, and traveled throughout Greece, Türkiye, Spain, England, Scotland, Germany, and Switzerland. Bedford was also one of the first people to drive the Alcan Highway to northwest Canada and Alaska.

In 1967, James was diagnosed with terminal kidney cancer, the cancer had metastasized to his lungs and with the medical capabilities of that time, James had no choice but to accept the death sentence. Before that, James had read the idea in the book The Prospect of Immortality by Dr. Robert Ettinger – who is considered the father of body freezing experiments, founder of the Cryonics Institute – a unit specializing in providing body freezing services after death. Robert Nelson performed the first steps of cryonics on Professor James. He was injected with dimethyl sulfoxide after his death on the afternoon of January 12, 1967.

Previously, in April 1966, a woman was also frozen in Arizona, but only lasted a few months. There is speculation that because she was embalmed too late, her cells had partially decomposed and if she had been “resurrected”, her brain would have been severely damaged.

The story of James’s body freezing process was revealed in the Daily Telegraph (UK) in January 2017.

Accordingly, James said his last words to Robert Nelson, now 82 years old, 1 of 3 scientists directly involved in the body freezing event: “I want you to understand that I did not do this with the thought that I would be revived. I did this in the hope that one day my descendants will benefit from this wonderful solution”.

Before his death, James left more than $100,000 (more than VND 2 billion at the current exchange rate) to serve the process of freezing his body. On January 12, 1967, James suffered cardiac arrest in a nursing home, at the age of 73. Dr. Renault Able performed artificial respiration and cardiac massage to help him maintain blood circulation in his body. After that, all his blood was drained and dimethyl sulfoxide was injected to protect his internal organs. Finally, they placed James in a tank of liquid nitrogen at minus 196 degrees Celsius.

In 1991, Alcor decided to open James’s body and check his cryogenic condition after 24 years. Cutting through the metal coating of the jar, Alcor technicians found James in a pale blue sleeping bag, wrapped in a nylon strap. They moved him to a liquid nitrogen tank covered with polystyrene foam and began examining him.

The technicians said James’ body was quite well preserved. His face looked younger than his 73 years. Some areas of skin on his chest and neck were discolored and there were two holes in his body. Professor James’ nose and mouth smelled of blood. His eyes were half open and his corneas were the chalky white of ice. His legs were exposed with his right leg crossed over his left. Some cracks in the skin’s surface were found, but overall, James’ preservation was considered good. Alcor technicians then wrapped Professor James in a new sleeping bag and immersed his body in liquid nitrogen to wait. Now, three years after the promised time for James to wake up, he is still just a “mummy” stacked vertically with 145 other frozen people…

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