The first human cryopreservation was carried out on January 12, 1967
The idea of cryopreservation, storage of organs and organisms at low temperatures, followed by "defrosting", arose several centuries ago and was inspired, presumably, by observations of animals plunged into hibernation. The first experimental studies in this area began in the middle of the 20th century.
At first, experiments were performed on individual organs of animals. After storage in liquid nitrogen, the organs were thawed and transplanted into the animal. Such experiments have repeatedly given good results, and a little later they began to experiment with whole organisms, primarily with microscopic animals. However, none of such experiments would have been successful without cryoprotectants, substances that protect cells and tissues from freezing-related damage and allow, after defrosting, at least partially preserve the object in the same form that it had before cryopreservation. Cryopreservation of a person was conceived not only out of scientific curiosity: if a person died from an incurable disease, his body can be preserved in the hope that over the years a remedy will appear that can heal this disease. Another question is that at the moment there is no technology,which can bring a corpse frozen in liquid nitrogen back to life.
The first person to agree to cryopreservation of his body after clinical death was in 1967, 73-year-old James Bedford, professor of psychology and supporter of cryonics. He was dying of incurable cancer and shortly before his death he accepted the offer of the cryopreservation center, which was actively developing at that time.
A few hours after Bedford's death, his corpse was immersed in a special Dewar vessel, which maintains a low temperature and is filled with liquid nitrogen. Dimethyl sulfoxide was injected into Bedford's body as a cryoprotectant. Dewar with Bedford's body is still kept and supported by his family.
Traditional medicine has treated and still treats cryopreservation of the human body with skepticism and does not consider it expedient or even useful.
Petr Kharatyan