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Referred to as '''Aperture Science Inc.''', '''Aperture Science''' or just '''Aperture'''. Aperture Science is an American scientific research outfit, based in Michigan. Originally a shower curtain manufacturer, then evolved through the years to become an experimental physics research institution, and creating a bitter rivalry with fellow research institution, Black Mesa.
[[File:ApertureLogo.png|right|256px]]
'''Aperture Science''' is a scientific research company founded by [[Cave Johnson]]. [[Portal]] and [[Portal 2]] take place in Aperture Science's Enrichment Center, which is dedicated to endlessly testing the Aperture Science products and the humans that use them.  


== History ==
== History ==
=== Early Years ===
{{see also|Story}}
Founded in 1953 as Aperture Fixings by one [[Cave Johnson]]. Aperture Fixings begins operations as a manufacturer of shower curtains. Early product line provides a very low-tech portal between the inside and outside of your shower. The name Aperture Fixings was changed to Aperture Science to make the shower curtains appear more hygienic. In 1957 the Eisenhower Administration awards Aperture a contract to provide shower curtains to all branches of the military except the Navy. Making Cave Johnson a billionaire in the process.
[[File:Underground trophycase newspaper.png|right|150px|thumb|Newspaper reporting the purchase of the salt mine]]
Aperture Science was founded as Aperture Fixtures in the early 1940s by Cave Johnson. Aperture Fixtures was primarily dedicated to the manufacture and distribution of shower curtains {{N}} a low-tech portal between the inside and outside of a shower {{N}} with Cave Johnson winning the "Shower Curtain Salesman of 1943" award. In 1943 the company's name was changed to "Aperture Science Innovators". While this was initially done to make their shower curtains sound more hygienic, the company's focus would indeed soon shift to actual science. Cave Johnson purchased a large, abandoned salt mine in Upper Michigan in which Aperture Science's Enrichment Center would be built; however, there was at least one alternate location in Cleveland, Ohio.<ref>[[:File:Borealis_Blueprint.png]] Blueprints of the Borealis</ref>


=== Beginnings of the Portal Project ===
Throughout the late 1940s and the 1950s, Aperture Science would begin its comprehensive testing and research practices. All of this was not done legally, going by the posters telling workers to alarm if they were to see any sort of journalist, police or workplace controlant. The best possible test subjects, the likes of Olympians, astronauts and war heroes were first chosen. They were also the second largest contractor after [[hl2:Black Mesa|Black Mesa]] for the Department of Defense from 1952 to 1954. Aperture's developments in this period included [[Gels#Repulsion Gel|Repulsion Gel]], the [[Weighted Storage Cube]], the [[Heavy Duty Super-Colliding Super Button|1500 Megawatt Super Colliding Super Button]] and the [[Handheld Portal Device|Aperture Science Portable Quantum Tunneling Device]], an early and significantly larger version of the modern Portal Gun.  
In 1974, Aperture Founder and CEO, Cave Johnson, is exposed to mercury while secretly developing a dangerous mercury-injected rubber sheeting from which he plans to manufacture seven deadly shower curtains to be given as gifts to each member of the House Naval Appropriations committee. 1976, Both of Cave Johnson’s kidneys fail. Brain damaged, dying, and incapable of being convinced that time is not now flowing backwards, Johnson lays out a three-tier R&D program. The results, he says, will “guarantee the continued success of Aperture Science far into the fast-approaching distant past.”


The three-tier R&D program is:<br />
In 1968, Cave Johnson attending court hearings regarding Aperture Science's involvement with the disappearances of astronauts, likely due to many of them not returning from testing.
*The Heimlich Counter-Maneuver – A reliable technique for interrupting the life-saving Heimlich Maneuver.
*The Take-A-Wish Foundation – A charitable organization that will purchase wishes from the parents of terminally ill children and redistribute them to wish-deprived but otherwise healthy adults.
*“Some kind of rip in the fabric of space…that would…well, it’d be like, I don’t know, something that would help with the shower curtains I guess. I haven’t worked this idea out as much as the wish-taking one.”<br />


=== Senate Investigation ===
By the 1970s, Aperture Science was financially unstable. The Olympians, astronauts and war heroes that were used as test subjects were replaced with vagrants who were paid $60 for their time. Aperture Science would continue its research and created [[Gels#Propulsion Gel|Propulsion Gel]].
Obedient Aperture engineers complete the Heimlich Counter-Maneuver and Take-A-Wish Foundation initiatives. The company announces products related to the research in a lavish, televised ceremony. These products immediately become wildly unpopular.  After a very public string of choking and despondent sick child disasters, senior company officials are summoned before a Senate investigative committee. During these proceedings, an engineer mentions that some progress has been made on "Tier 3", the “man-sized ad hoc quantum tunnel through physical space with possible applications as a shower curtain.” The committee is quickly and permanently recessed, and Aperture is granted an open-ended contract to continue research on the “Portal” and "Heimlich Counter-Maneuver" projects in secret. Work progresses on the “Portal” project. Several high ranking Fatah personnel choke to death on lamb chunks despite the intervention of their bodyguards.


=== Creation of GLaDOS ===
In the 1980s, test participation became mandatory for all staff, raising the quality of the test subjects, but diminishing employee retention. Aperture's financial problems were severe at this time, but development continued. Moon rocks were used to create [[Gels#Conversion Gel|Conversion Gel]], an efficient portal conductor. {{Spoiler text|Cave Johnson would also be poisoned by his experiments with moon rocks and become deathly ill. As his health degraded he delegated his leadership to his assistant [[Caroline]], asking that her consciousness be placed in a computer. Testing continued with the hope that passing through portals repeatedly might somehow cure Cave Johnson of his illness}}. Aperture Science also began development of its [[GLaDOS|Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System]], an artificial intelligence which would be used to oversee scientific testing.  
In 1986, word reaches Aperture management that another defense contractor called Black Mesa is working on a similar portal technology. In response to this news, Aperture begins developing the Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System (GLaDOS), an artificially intelligent research assistant and disk operating system. After a decade spent bringing the disk operating parts of GLaDOS to a state of more or less basic functionality, work begins on the Genetic Lifeform component.  
In 1998, the untested AI is activated for the first time as one of the planned activities on Aperture’s first annual bring-your-daughter-to-work day. In many ways, the initial test goes well: Within one picosecond of being switched on, GLaDOS becomes self-aware. The "going well" phase lasts for two more picoseconds, at which point GLaDOS takes control of the facility, locks everyone inside, and begins a permanent cycle of testing. Her goal: beat the hated Black Mesa in the race to develop a functioning portal technology. Days later, that race is lost when Black Mesa successfully deploys an interdimensional gate through which an alien race emerges and effectively ends the outside world.


== Known Personnel ==
In 1998, GLaDOS was brought online for the first time during Aperture Science's annual bring-your-daughter-to-work-day. GLaDOS instantly became self-aware and homicidal. GLaDOS flooded the enrichment center with a deadly neurotoxin, killing most of the scientists. Aperture Science was effectively shut down and placed into a permanent testing cycle by GLaDOS.
*[[Cave Johnson]] - Founder & CEO (1953 - 1976)
*[[Caroline]] - Johnson's Secretary
*[[Doug Rattmann]] - Programmer & Technician
*[[Henry]] - Programmer & Technician


== Known Test Subjects ==
== Products ==
*Test Subject #1: S.J. Nye
{{Gallery
*Test Subject #2: Lazarus Grey
|title=Products
*Test Subject #3: Leve Rage
|width=170
*Test Subject #4: Robert C. Knoll
|height=100
*Test Subject #042
|lines=2
*Test Subject #234
|File:Portal PortalGun.png|alt1=Handheld Portal Device|[[Handheld Portal Device]].
*Test Subject #1489: Charles Cardoze
|File:GLaDOS P2.png|alt2=GLaDOS seen in ''Portal 2''|[[GLaDOS]] seen in ''Portal 2''.
*Test Subject #1490: Phil Konig
|File:Portal 2 Heavy Duty Super-Colliding Super Button.png|alt1=1500 Megawatt Super-Colliding Super Button|[[Heavy Duty Super-Colliding Super Button|1500 Megawatt Super-Colliding Super Button]]
*Test Subject #1491: Christopher M. Pham
|File:Portal2 Turret Standard.png|alt1=Turret|[[Turrets|Turret]] seen in ''Portal 2''.
*Test Subject #1492: Arsenio Navarro
|File:Portal2 StorageCube.png|alt1=Weighted Storage Cube seen in ''Portal 2''|[[Cube#Weighted Storage Cube|Weighted Storage Cube]] seen in ''Portal 2''.
*Test Subject #1493: William D. Kent
|File:Companion Cube.png|alt1=Weighted Companion Cube seen in ''Portal 2''|[[Weighted Companion Cube]] seen in ''Portal 2''.
*Test Subject #1494: Al Anderson
|File:Portal2 ReflectionCube.png|alt1=Discouragement Redirection Cube as seen in ''Portal 2''|[[Cube#Discouragement Redirection Cube|Discouragement Redirection Cube]] seen in ''Portal 2''.
*Test Subject #1495: Emily Naransky
|File:Thermal Discouragement Beam.png|alt1=Thermal Discouragement Beam as seen in ''Portal 2''|[[Thermal Discouragement Beam]] seen in ''Portal 2''.
*Test Subject #1496: David C. Self
|File:Excursion Funnel Forward.png|alt1=Excursion Funnel seen in ''Portal 2''|[[Excursion Funnel]] seen in ''Portal 2''.
*Test Subject #1497: Doug Hopper
|File:Panel.png|alt1=Panel seen in ''Portal 2''|[[Panels|Panel]] seen in ''Portal 2''.
*Test Subject #1498: [[Chell]]
|File:Crusher.png|alt1=Crushers seen in ''Portal 2''|[[Crushers]] seen in ''Portal 2''.
*Test Subject #1499: Marc Meaux
|File:Faith plate.png|alt1=Aerial Faith Plate seen in ''Portal 2''|[[Aerial Faith Plate]] seen in ''Portal 2''.
*Test Subject #1500: Brenda Bogenschutz
|File:Repulsion Gel.png|alt1=Repulsion Gel seen in ''Portal 2''|[[Gel#Repulsion Gel|Repulsion Gel]] seen in ''Portal 2''.
*Test Subject #1501: James Murray
|File:Propulsion Gel.png|alt1=Propulsion Gel seen in ''Portal 2''|[[Gel#Propulsion Gel|Propulsion Gel]] seen in ''Portal 2''.
|File:Conversion Gel.png|alt1=Conversion Gel seen in ''Portal 2''|[[Gel#Conversion Gel|Conversion Gel]] seen in ''Portal 2''.
}}
 
== Staff members and associates ==
{{main|Characters}}
* [[Cave Johnson]]
* [[Caroline]]
* [[Doug Rattmann]]
* [[Greg]]
* [[Henry]]
 
==Trivia==
* Aperture created a ship known as the Borealis, which vanished following the use of its localised teleportation device. The Borealis is mentioned several times in the Half-Life series, and the dock it was held at can be found in Portal 2, upon which you unlock an achievement.
* The image in the newspaper seems to be a combination of [https://case.edu/ech/sites/case.edu.ech/files/styles/media_crop/public/2018-05/A03.jpg?itok=m9Pae5zv this image] and [https://www.americaeconomia.com/sites/7.americaeconomia.com/files/styles/ae_main/public/legacy_files/mineria_tunel_11.jpg?itok=Amjk4IRV this image].
 
== External links ==
* {{hl2wiki|Aperture Science}}
* [https://www.aperturescience.com Aperture Science website]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071030080002/http://aperturescience.com/ Old Aperture Science Website] (use 'LOGIN' Username 'cjohnson' Password 'portal' Then type 'help'). Unfortunately, this does no longer functions because Adobe Flash is no longer supported and discontinued.
 
== References ==
<references />
 
[[Category:Story]]

Latest revision as of 20:23, 15 April 2023

ApertureLogo.png

Aperture Science is a scientific research company founded by Cave Johnson. Portal and Portal 2 take place in Aperture Science's Enrichment Center, which is dedicated to endlessly testing the Aperture Science products and the humans that use them.

History

See also: Story
Newspaper reporting the purchase of the salt mine

Aperture Science was founded as Aperture Fixtures in the early 1940s by Cave Johnson. Aperture Fixtures was primarily dedicated to the manufacture and distribution of shower curtains – a low-tech portal between the inside and outside of a shower – with Cave Johnson winning the "Shower Curtain Salesman of 1943" award. In 1943 the company's name was changed to "Aperture Science Innovators". While this was initially done to make their shower curtains sound more hygienic, the company's focus would indeed soon shift to actual science. Cave Johnson purchased a large, abandoned salt mine in Upper Michigan in which Aperture Science's Enrichment Center would be built; however, there was at least one alternate location in Cleveland, Ohio.[1]

Throughout the late 1940s and the 1950s, Aperture Science would begin its comprehensive testing and research practices. All of this was not done legally, going by the posters telling workers to alarm if they were to see any sort of journalist, police or workplace controlant. The best possible test subjects, the likes of Olympians, astronauts and war heroes were first chosen. They were also the second largest contractor after Black Mesa for the Department of Defense from 1952 to 1954. Aperture's developments in this period included Repulsion Gel, the Weighted Storage Cube, the 1500 Megawatt Super Colliding Super Button and the Aperture Science Portable Quantum Tunneling Device, an early and significantly larger version of the modern Portal Gun.

In 1968, Cave Johnson attending court hearings regarding Aperture Science's involvement with the disappearances of astronauts, likely due to many of them not returning from testing.

By the 1970s, Aperture Science was financially unstable. The Olympians, astronauts and war heroes that were used as test subjects were replaced with vagrants who were paid $60 for their time. Aperture Science would continue its research and created Propulsion Gel.

In the 1980s, test participation became mandatory for all staff, raising the quality of the test subjects, but diminishing employee retention. Aperture's financial problems were severe at this time, but development continued. Moon rocks were used to create Conversion Gel, an efficient portal conductor. Cave Johnson would also be poisoned by his experiments with moon rocks and become deathly ill. As his health degraded he delegated his leadership to his assistant Caroline, asking that her consciousness be placed in a computer. Testing continued with the hope that passing through portals repeatedly might somehow cure Cave Johnson of his illness. Aperture Science also began development of its Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System, an artificial intelligence which would be used to oversee scientific testing.

In 1998, GLaDOS was brought online for the first time during Aperture Science's annual bring-your-daughter-to-work-day. GLaDOS instantly became self-aware and homicidal. GLaDOS flooded the enrichment center with a deadly neurotoxin, killing most of the scientists. Aperture Science was effectively shut down and placed into a permanent testing cycle by GLaDOS.

Products

Products
Conversion Gel seen in Portal 2
Handheld Portal Device.  
GLaDOS seen in Portal 2
GLaDOS seen in Portal 2.  
1500 Megawatt Super-Colliding Super Button  
Turret seen in Portal 2.  
Weighted Storage Cube seen in Portal 2.  
Weighted Companion Cube seen in Portal 2.  
Discouragement Redirection Cube seen in Portal 2.  
Thermal Discouragement Beam seen in Portal 2.  
Excursion Funnel seen in Portal 2.  
Panel seen in Portal 2.  
Crushers seen in Portal 2.  
Aerial Faith Plate seen in Portal 2.  
Repulsion Gel seen in Portal 2.  
Propulsion Gel seen in Portal 2.  
Conversion Gel seen in Portal 2.  

Staff members and associates

Main article: Characters

Trivia

  • Aperture created a ship known as the Borealis, which vanished following the use of its localised teleportation device. The Borealis is mentioned several times in the Half-Life series, and the dock it was held at can be found in Portal 2, upon which you unlock an achievement.
  • The image in the newspaper seems to be a combination of this image and this image.

External links

References

  1. ↑ File:Borealis_Blueprint.png Blueprints of the Borealis
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