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This is a '''timeline of brain preservation'''.
{{W|Cryonics}} is the most popular method of brain preservation, and preserves individuals using low-temperature. But other methods are being used and developed as well, notably [http://www.oregoncryo.com/manual/chemicalFixation.html fixation], and a combination of both called [http://www.brainpreservation.org/21cm-aldehyde-stabilized-cryopreservation-eval-page/ aldehyde-stabilized cryopreservation].
The first people to start advocating for cryonics emerged in 1962, and the first preservation happened 4 years later. From 1966 until 1973, of the 17 attempts at freezing, only one person remained cryopreserved<ref name="SuspensionFailures"/> (hence the bumps at the beginning of the curve in the graph below). Consequently, the "pay-as-you-go" funding model was abandoned by the cryonics community as relatives had shown to generally eventually lose interest in paying maintenance fees. From then onward, the number of cryopreservations would grow exponentially, but to this day still represent a trivial amount in comparison to the number of burials and cremations. Since cryonics was first publicized, an estimated 2.9 billion people have died,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ortiz-Ospina|first=Esteban|last2=Roser|first2=Max|date=2019-01-23|title=World Population Growth|url=https://ourworldindata.org/world-population-growth|journal=Our World in Data}}</ref> which could represent about 2.7% of humans to have ever lived.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.prb.org/howmanypeoplehaveeverlivedonearth/|title=How Many People Have Ever Lived on Earth? – Population Reference Bureau|language=en-US|access-date=2019-01-23}}</ref> As of January 2019, 416 people are known to be cryopreserved.
The following graph shows an a history of the number of bodies preserved (complete or neuro-only). Given that the quality of preservations varies a lot, and it can often take many hours or even days before someone gets preserved from the time of their clinical death,<ref name="AlcorCase"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cryonics.org/case-reports/|title=Case Reports {{!}} Cryonics Institute|website=www.cryonics.org|access-date=2019-01-23}}</ref> the graph below represents an upper bound of the number of people that are preserved: some have probably been irreversibly lost, and some might only have been partially preserved. Given that we don't currently know how effective current preservation methods are, the lower bound for the number of people that have been preserved remains 0.
[[File:Number_of_people_preserved_over_time.png]]
==== Members ====
Memberships statistics can be tricky to track for a couple of reasons:
* Lack of present data: some organisations organizations don't publicize their membership statistics* Lack of historical data: some organisations organizations only started tracking their membership statistics later in their history* Lack of cryonics membership data: the Cryonics Institute stopped publicizing the quantity number of their members that are fully-funded since 2015, and now only reports the number of members they have; some are also members only for other of their services, such as DNA preservation* Dual memberships: some cryonicists are members of more than one organisationorganization, often to support several organisationsorganizations, or as a fall-back for themselves if one organisation organization was to fail in some ways.
Alcor is the only large cryonics organisation organization that has tracked the number of fully-funded members it has had since its beginnings.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://alcor.org/AboutAlcor/membershipstats.html|title=Alcor: Membership Statistics|website=alcor.org|access-date=2019-01-23}}</ref> The graph below shows the change in its membership quantity. The recent growth has been pretty linear. However, given that there are more and more cryonics organisationsorganizations, worldwide cryonics memberships is likely to approach more of an exponential growthgrowing exponentially.
[[File:Number_of_Alcor_members.png]]
=== Cost ===
Alcor and the Cryonics Institute are the main cryonics providers that have existed for decades.<ref group=note>Trans Time has also existed for a long time, but they haven't always been offering cryonics services, and only have 3 patients in storage. The American Cryonics Society has also existed for a long time, but they contract with other cryonics providers.</ref> Alcor has been adjusting their its prices according to the Consumer Price Index (which has been lower than medical inflation), while the Cryonics Institute has maintained their its initial price. The first graph below shows the [[wikipedia:Real versus nominal value (economics)|nominal cost]] charged by the organisationorganization, while the second graph shows the [[wikipedia:Real versus nominal value (economics)|real cost]] (that is inflation adjusted) of various cryonics services.
While the graphs start in 1976, it is worth nothing noting that before 1982, Alcor was contracting Trans Time for its storage services, and the Institute for Advanced Biological Studies for its stabilization services. Also, beside besides Ettinger's mother and wife, the first patient of the Cryonics Institute was preserved in 1991.
A direct comparison between the prices of different organisations organizations is difficult because of the different services provided, and different types of payments. For example, Alcor has an annual membership fee, and has surcharges for late-minute cases. Some of the reason for Alcor's higher price than the Cryonics Institute includes the cost of stabilization and transport, as well as being more financially conservative by putting more money aside in a patient care trust.
The graphs below show the price of cryonics for whole-body and / or neuro-only as offered by Alcor<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://alcor.org/Library/html/CryopreservationFundingAndInflation.html|title=Crypreservation Funding and Inflation|website=alcor.org|access-date=2019-01-31}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://alcor.org/BecomeMember/|title=Alcor: Membership Info - How to Join|website=alcor.org|access-date=2019-01-31}}</ref>, the Cryonics Institute<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cryonics.org/ci-landing/funding-for-cryostasis/|title=Funding for Cryostasis {{!}} Cryonics Institute|website=www.cryonics.org|access-date=2019-01-31}}</ref>, OregonCryo<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://oregoncryo.com/services.html|title=Oregon Cryonics - Services|website=oregoncryo.com|access-date=2019-01-31}}</ref>, KrioRus<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://kriorus.ru/en/Human-cryopreservation|title=Human cryopreservation {{!}} KrioRus|website=kriorus.ru|access-date=2019-01-31}}</ref>. The second graph has prices inflation adjusted in 2018 USD.
During that time, the idea of cryonics is conceived by various people; presumably independently from each other. In 1901, Porfiry Ivanovich Bakhmetyev suggests using the phenomenon of anabiosis to prolong human life, to “travel to the future”. In 1931, Neil R. Jones writes a story about someone preserved in orbit because of the cold temperature. In 1948, Robert Ettinger publishes a story explaining the idea of cryonics. In 1962, Evan Cooper publishes "Immortality: Physically, Scientifically, Now" and coins the slogan "freeze, wait, reanimate".
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| 1960-1966 || The first cryonics activists start grouping, and developping developing the capabilities to perform cryopreservations. They have difficulty finding a first person interested in receiving the procedure.
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| 1966-1975 || Early cryonics organisations organizations struggle to maintain their patients in liquid nitrogen. Out of 22 cryopreservations done during that period, only 3 would remain preserved to this day [2019].
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| 1976-1990 || The two cryonics organisations organizations that have provided continuous service for the longest time and have the most members are created in 1976. They would slowly grow during the following years.
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| 1991-2000 || The Cryonics Institute preserves their third patient in 1991{{snd}}the first two being relatives from the founder, {{W|Robert Ettinger}}. Alcor and the Cryonics Institute start getting more members and patients.
* social: meeting, conference
* political
* organisationorganization: pref-founding, founding, first
* legal: right-to-die
The purpose of the CSA is to establish “standards and practices” of operations for all of the cryonics societies, to mandate validation of human freezing by requiring the submission of photographic proof along with a death certificate, and a description of the procedure used and the location where the patient was being stored (essentially establishing a registry of cryonics patients). It is also created to allow for the creation of a Scientific Advisory Board which would, in fact, formed in March of 1968. CSA itself never got off the ground due to noncompliance with the "standards and practices" by the Cryonics Society of California.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://appext20.dos.ny.gov/corp_public/CORPSEARCH.ENTITY_INFORMATION?p_token=7361B53D067A654A76A77C3D820968CE25ADADB428A2F2B69B4B1B434D5CDC52D3EF5B4A61760545D791DA3D1A8E4D7F&p_nameid=4A504BB578548E78&p_corpid=A70384D2E44B2C90&p_captcha=11476&p_captcha_check=7361B53D067A654A76A77C3D820968CE25ADADB428A2F2B69B4B1B434D5CDC527922A9872C775310E6F079882FB316C3&p_entity_name=cryonics%20society&p_name_type=A&p_search_type=BEGINS&p_srch_results_page=0|title=Informational Message|website=appext20.dos.ny.gov|access-date=2019-01-22}}</ref>
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| 1970-05-15 || cryonics || organisation organization || || Cryonics Society of California || Nelson moves the 4 patients from the Cryonics Society of California into an underground vault he recently had designed and build built under the aegis of Cryonics Interment. The vault is located in Oakwood Cemetery in {{W|Chatsworth, Los Angeles}}.<ref name="SuspensionFailures"/>
|-
| 1970-05-22 || cryobiology || science || theory || Peter Mazur || Peter Mazur publishes his “two -factor theory” elucidating the basic mechanisms of freezing damage to living cells: solution effects injury and/or intracellular freezing. This insight facilitates more rational design of freezing and thawing protocols allowing the development of freezing techniques for animal embryos.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mazur|first=P.|date=1970-05-22|title=Cryobiology: the freezing of biological systems|url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/5462399|journal=Science (New York, N.Y.)|volume=168|issue=3934|pages=939–949|issn=0036-8075|pmid=5462399}}</ref>
|-
| 1971 || resuscitation || science || || Hossmann || Hossmann demonstrate demonstrates possible recovery of the cat brain after complete ischemia for 1 hour. The field of cerebral resuscitation is born.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hossmann|first=K.-A.|last2=Lechtape-Grüter|first2=H.|date=1971|title=Blood Flow and Recovery of the Cat Brain after Complete Ischemia for 1 Hour|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000114515|journal=European Neurology|volume=6|issue=1-6|pages=318–322|doi=10.1159/000114515|issn=0014-3022}}</ref>
|-
Many cryonicists insist that dry ice is not cold enough for long-term cryopreservation and that the Nederland festival is negative publicity for cryonics.<ref name="BenBestCryonicsHistory"/>
|-
| 2002 summer || cryonics || technological adoption || intermediate storage temperature || {{W|Alcor Life Extension Foundation}} || An Alcor neuropatient receives an excellent uniform perfusion, allowing them to reach the lowest temperature without fracturing ever recorded to date, −128 °C. Cryobiologist consultants would evaluate that this may be the best cryopreservation to date. The patient is transferred to the CryoStar freezer for continued slow cooling and annealing for fracture avoidance. However, the patient would be moved to liquid nitrogen in July 2003 as the maneuver wouldn't be successful. In December, another patient, A-1034, would be also placed into the CryoStar to accommodate the family's preference for this type of storage, and later transferred in a new newly validated neuroped neuropod in April 2006.<ref name="IntermediateTemperatureStorage"/>
|-
An exhaustive list of publicly known preserved patients (including a yet incomplete evaluation of the quality of their preservation) can be found in the Google Sheet [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vBrlNvPkPQbLKxtSUlTF_ZpUS4lwW2W7lENRj9Gdk3I List of cryonics patients].
A detailed account of membership statistics of cryonics organisations organizations has been compiled in the Google Sheet [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CW5tyCLp-jGT4ta4k1esDaw-I2eKd7rcI7jhcQEk4NE/ Cryonic members statistics] (although not all organisations organizations share all, or any of their membership statistics). A detailed account of patient statistics has been compiled in the Google Sheet [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15Ix7iocvo5WdNgtC3MSkYlyysV95_TrJjK87Z371FrY/ Cryonic patients statistics]. The membership and patient statistics should be updated at the beginning of every year, after the publication of the statistics from last year.
All those external lists are editable, and everyone is encouraged to contribute to them. They are all available in the Google Folder [https://drive.google.com/open?id=1zRQIIVmh8Io-Ao5HZV1UtzkWTY61wbFI Cryonics Statistics]. [[User:Mati Roy|Mati Roy]] created and is maintaining all of those Google Sheets. Most of the membership statistics were entered by someone anonymous.
=== Timeline update strategy ===
As of 2019, [[User:Mati Roy|Mati Roy]] is currently roughly staying up-to-date with new major cryonics events, and should , therefore , update the timeline roughly continuously, at least in the near future. The timeline on this wiki is manually synced with the Google Sheet [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uEvT8oHOQJOOYzYglkFgrEgKbhbkz1A0jdO5OYZPwEk/ Timeline of cryonics] as the main author, [[User:Mati Roy|Mati Roy]], finds it easier to maintain it there. So feel free to edit either, and it will then get manually synced.
If you're interested in helping in any way, feel free to take the initiative. If you have any questions, want guidance or feedback, or want to discuss about ways to improve this timeline, feel free to contact [[User:Mati Roy|Mati Roy]] at contact@matiroy.com or post on [https://www.reddit.com/r/TimelinesWiki/comments/aj89vr/timeline_of_cryonics/ TimelinesWiki Reddit cryonics post].
=== Tracking preservation quality ===
An interesting addition that could be done to this page is to measure the progress of the quality of cryonics cases. If you're interested in contributing to this project, you can fill the columns related to the quality of the cryopreservation in the Google Sheet [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vBrlNvPkPQbLKxtSUlTF_ZpUS4lwW2W7lENRj9Gdk3I List of cryonics patients] by going through some of the cases published by the cryonics organisationsorganizations; see: [https://alcor.org/cases.html Alcor (human cases)], the [https://www.cryonics.org/case-reports/ Cryonics Institute (human cases)], [http://www.oregoncryo.com/caseReports.html OregonCryo (human cases)], [http://www.oregoncryo.com/caseReportsPets.html OregonCryo (non-human cases)], [http://kriorus.ru/Krionirovannye-lyudi KrioRus (human cases)], [http://kriorus.ru/Zhivotnye-kriopacienty KrioRus (non-human cases)].
While ways to quantify the quality of preservations have been proposed, notably by [http://www.oregoncryo.com/qualityScores.html OregonCryo], there are currently no systematic analyses done about the quality of current preservations by any of the cryonics providers.
=== Improving types of events ===
The types and subtypes of events in the timelines could be more exhaustive. The science and R&D types could have subtypes for the different field of research.
==Notes and references==
