X-Message-Number: 28713
Date: Sun, 03 Dec 2006 21:55:37 -0500
From: Francois <>
Subject: Lawrence Oates

On march 17 1912, Lawrence Oates, member of the doomed Scott expedition to 
the south pole, walked out of his team's tent and into a raging blizzard. 
Injured and unable to walk on his own for very long, Oates had become a 
burden for his companions and he intended his sacrifice to allow them to 
reach the safety of a supply depot. History remembers him for his last 
words, "I am just going outside and may be some time." His sacrifice came 
too late, the remaining members of the expedition died soon after, a mere 11 
miles from the supply depot. Oates body was never recovered.

This means, of course, that he is still out there, somewere, frozen in the 
ice of Antarctica. Obviously, being frozen in this way is far from ideal 
from a preservation point of view. Still I wonder if it would be possible, 
at least in principle, to recover him and reanimate him with the same 
techniques that would be used to revive cryonically suspended people. It is 
obvious that the task of reviving Oates would be far more difficult, but 
would the damage caused by the brutal unprotected freezing and the less than 
idea "storage" make it impossible? I hope not. Imagine reviving an actual 
person from the late 19th and early 20th century. That would be quite an 
accomplishment if it ever came to be.


Francois

Good health is merely the slowest
possible rate at which one can die. 

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=28713