Science & invention
Robert Ettinger
1918–2011 · physics teacher, author, founder of cryonics
'Father of cryonics' who taught physics and mathematics at Wayne State and Highland Park Community College and founded the Cryonics Institute, now in Clinton Township.
- Born
Atlantic City, New Jersey- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 92- Birth name
- Robert Chester Wilson Ettinger
- Detroit years
- 1940s–2011
- Field
- Science & invention
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Ettinger was born in Atlantic City in 1918 to Russian Jewish immigrants. Badly wounded as an infantry officer in Germany during World War II, he spent several years recovering in a Michigan hospital, and he stayed in the state. He earned master's degrees in physics and in mathematics at Wayne State University and taught both subjects there and at Highland Park Community College. His 1962 book The Prospect of Immortality argued that people could be frozen at death and revived when medicine caught up, and it launched the cryonics movement. With his second wife, Mae Junod, he was active in the Cryonics Society of Michigan, and in 1976 he founded the Cryonics Institute in Detroit, serving as its president until 2003; it moved to Clinton Township in 1993. He died in 2011 and, like his mother and both his wives, was cryopreserved at the institute.
Highlights
- The Prospect of Immortality (1962) launched the cryonics movement
- Founded the Cryonics Institute in Detroit, April 4, 1976; president until 2003
- Two master's degrees from Wayne State University (physics, mathematics)
- Taught at Wayne State and at Highland Park Community College
- Purple Heart for wounds suffered in Germany in World War II
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 3
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Founded · 1976–2011
Cryonics Institute
The nonprofit cryonics facility he founded in Detroit in 1976; it moved to this Clinton Township site in 1993, and his own body is stored here.
Studied here · late 1940s–1970s
Wayne State University (then Wayne University)
He earned master's degrees in physics and mathematics here and later taught both subjects.
Worked here
Highland Park Community College
Closed · 1918–1996
The Highland Park public college where he taught physics and mathematics; it closed in 1996.