author
R. C. W. (Robert C. W.) Ettinger
1918–2011
Best known for launching the modern cryonics debate, this physics teacher turned speculative writer asked readers to imagine whether death might someday be treated as a medical problem rather than a final fact. His books helped make that unsettling, fascinating idea impossible to ignore.
1 Audiobook
The penultimate trump
by R. C. W. (Robert C. W.) Ettinger
About the author
Born in 1918, he was an American academic, science-fiction writer, and outspoken advocate of cryonics. He became widely known as the "father of cryonics" after publishing The Prospect of Immortality, a book first circulated in 1962 and later published in book form in 1964, which argued that future medicine might one day revive people preserved at death.
He taught physics at Highland Park Community College in Michigan and also wrote speculative nonfiction and fiction, including The End of Man? and The Man from Tomorrow. His life included military service in World War II, and he remained active in promoting cryonics for decades.
He died in 2011 at age 92. Because his ideas sat at the border of science, futurism, and philosophy, he remains a striking figure for readers interested in bold, controversial visions of what the future might make possible.