In 1972, Fred and Linda Chamberlain founded the Alcor Society for Solid State Hypothermia, naming it for Alcor, a faint star in the Big Dipper constellation. They changed the name to the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in 1977. Its intention is to develop a rational and financially reasonable approach to cryonics.
Alcor’s initial human cryopreservation took place on July 16, 1976, with the freezing of Fred Chamberlain’s father. In 1977, the Institute for Advanced Biological Studies was founded in Indianapolis, and this nonprofit research startup merged with Alcor in 1982. Also in 1982, Alcor established its first long-term storage facility.
The 1986 publication of Engines of Creation by Eric Drexler, which included a chapter on cryonics, spurred public interest in cryopreservation. In 1988, counterculture psychologist and psychedelics evangelist Timothy Leary joined Alcor, though he would change his mind about being frozen shortly before his death, and would instead be cremated.
Alcor garnered a great deal of negative public attention with the 2002 cryopreservation of Boston Red Sox great Ted Williams, whose children disagreed over whether Williams had wanted to be preserved. Former Alcor executive Larry Johnson claimed in 2003 that Alcor had mishandled Williams’s remains and that samples of his DNA could not be accounted for. Williams’s son was also preserved at Alcor following his death in 2004.
Former Alcor CEO Max More has stated that the goal of cryonics is to overcome death and allow continued life in a youthful and healthy state, a concept close to immortality.
Key Sources:
King, J. (2010, May 17). Scottsdale-Based Alcor Wins Court Battle to Dig Up Dead Guy So Head Can be Frozen. Phoenix New Times.
Mondragon, C. (1990, November). A Stunning Legal Victory for Alcor. Cryonics. Alcor Life Extension Foundation.
More, M. (2019). Alcor 2029: A Speculative Scenario.
New York Daily News. (2019, January 11). Ted Williams’ nephew appalled by Alcor’s treatment of former Boston Red Sox great.
Perry, R. M. (2000). Forever for all: Moral Philosophy, Cryonics, and the Scientific Prospects for Immortality. Universal-Publishers.
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