Cryonics
What better product can a company offer than eternal life? This is what the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Arizona sells to its 600 members. After death, their bodies are frozen and put to rest in liquid nitrogen. Some day, Alcor members hope, they will be brought back.
So far, Alcor has frozen 53 people as well as some of their favorite pets. Shortly after "the end of the first life cycle", the human life span in Alcor lingo, specialists remove all bodily...
more »
  • Building of the Alcor Cryonics foundation in Scottsdale, Arizona. Alcor has 600 members who will "suspend" themselves after their death in liquid nitrogen, in the hope of future resurrection. 49 members are already suspended at this facility.
  • Operating room at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation. After a member's death, blood is substituted with a cooling liquid and the body is slowly frozen.
  • Inside the Alcor offices. On the door: "A-1235 - no known infectious deseases - ..A1235 is a dying member who will be rushed to the Alcor facility as soon as proclaimed dead. The notes all over the facility are to update all the staff members at the facility on A-1235's status.
  • Diagramm for vibrification, where blood and water are replaced with the clycerol-based antifreeze Viaspan.
  • Equipment to replace water and blood with the clycerol-based antifreeze Viaspan. ..The process, called vibrification, is to prevent the cracking of tissue when cooling the body to the feezing temperature of liquid nitrogen (-320F/-195C)
  • The "Patient Care Facility" of Alcor. At present Alcor accommodates approximately 53 humans, stored in liquid nitrogen in these tanks.
  • Steel tank at the Alcor Life Extention Foundation. ..Each tank hosts up to 8 persons, stored head downwards. This is to make sure that in case of unexpected evaporation of too much liquid nitrogen, the head remains frozen the longest. ..The vapor in the picture is liquid nittogen evaporating as the tanks are "topped off" with liquid nitrogen.
  • A tank car delivering liquid nitrogen every 2 weeks. The nitrogen is filled into the steel tanks, where the frozen Alcor patients wait for their resurrection. Due to evaporation, the tanks need to be "topped off" quite frequently. ..
  • Nitrogen supply: A tank car delivers liquid nitrogen every two weeks. The nitrogen is filled into the steel tanks, where the frozen Alcor patients wait for their resurrection.
  • Dr. Jerry Lemler is the CEO of Alcor. Prior to becoming the first physician to head Alcor, he was a psychiatrist. He gave up his job "for the most important task of my career". Before, he tried to extend lives, he says. "Now I have the possibility of saving lives."
  • Hugh Hixon is the chief technician of Alcor. The biochemist and former officer of the US Air Force had his father frozen here who suffered Alzheimer's disease. Hugh actively participated in over fifty suspensions.
  • All 600 members of Alcor wear a steel bracelet. It contains strict instructions how a physician has to treat a dying Alcor patient
  • Mike Perry, 55 , is the archivist of Alcor. He examines the levels of the liquid nitrogen in the steel tanks which store the "patients". .."I dislike the concept of being dead. I regard death as scientific problem ", says Perry, who has a computer science doctorate.
  • Joe and Linda Waynick have been Alcor Members for two years. Their dog is also an Alcor member. Their two previous dogs are already suspended in liquid nitrogen at Alcor.
  • Aluminum body holders for full-body suspension at Alcor (in the back). ..Head only suspension (neuro-suspension) is a cheaper alternative. The Neuros (frozen heads) are stored in aluminum pots (front)
  • Wall in the lobby of the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Arizona. The photos show some of the 53 frozen "patients". The term "dead" is not used here. The nametag describes birth and death year as the "first life cycle".
  • The ambulance of Alcor at the airport in Scottsdale, Arizona. Deceased patients arrive in a plane at Scottsdale.
display options
all images © ROBERTHUBER.COM | contact