Howard Families
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Howard Families are a fictional group created by the author Robert A. Heinlein.
According to Heinlein, the Howard Foundation was started in the 19th century by Ira Howard, a millionaire dying of old age in his forties, for the purpose of selectively breeding human beings to extend their lifespans. Howard himself did not live to see the outcome; he simply endowed the experiment with his own fortune. The novel Methuselah's Children is focused on the Howard Families and their quest for acceptance on Earth and other planets.
According to Methuselah's Children, envy of the Howard Families eventually leads the "short-lifers" to develop a therapy for "rejuvenation." Initially the therapy consists simply of blood replacement (using new blood grown in vitro), but according to Time Enough for Love, this single therapy was eventually expanded, to include the gradual replacement of nearly all body parts. Members of the Howard Families generally opt to undergo rejuvenation, thereby extending their already-long lifespans indefinitely.
The books Time Enough for Love and To Sail Beyond the Sunset tell the stories of two famous Howard Family members: Lazarus Long and Maureen Johnson, Lazarus Long's mother. Lazarus Long also appears in The Number of the Beast and The Cat Who Walks Through Walls.
