Robert (Chester Wilson) Ettinger was born on December 4, 1918 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He spent much of his life in the Detroit, Michigan area. Attaining Master’s Degrees in both physics and mathematics, Mr. Ettinger, shown above at various times in his life, worked at both Wayne State University and at Highland Park Community College. When he was growing up,  he first came upon a science fiction idea of keeping people at the point of their clinical  death until future science could help them in a story called The Jamison Satellite. 

Robert Ettinger was later instrumental in the formation of the Cryonics Society of Michigan which eventually was renamed as The Immortalist Society. In the 1970’s, he and three other individuals formed the Cryonics Institute, where over one hundred individuals, including Mr. Ettinger, are now in special devices which will hold them at the temperature of liquid nitrogen (minus 321 degrees Fahrenheit). Robert Ettinger continued to work tirelessly through his adult life on behalf of his concept, both writing prolifically on the topic and spending countless hours of his time for free. Both of these efforts basically acted to strengthen the Immortalist Society, the Cryonics Institute, along with other cryonics organizations and the general field of cryonics itself. Further, they were an inspiration for other leaders in cryonics who came along after him.  In addition to the book he wrote which basically launched the field of cryonics, he published two other books related to the subject. The first was a volume entitled Man Into Superman. A final book, written in his later years, was entitled Youniverse.