Dr. James Hiram Bedford, a University of California professor and World War I veteran, led a rich and accomplished life. Yet, he is best remembered as the first person to undergo cryopreservation—the process of preserving a body at extremely low temperatures after death.
In 1967, Bedford, then 73, was diagnosed with kidney cancer that had spread to his lungs. Though medical options were limited at the time, he was fascinated by the concept of cryonics—the idea of freezing the body to be revived in the future when science could cure fatal diseases.