Cave Johnson

Cave Johnson is a main character in the popular 2011 video game P0RTAL 2. Although he only appeared in video diaries, his Eccenrtic and Narcicistic personality makes him one of the main antagonists of the series.

Biography
===Early career Edit === Cave's father was a farming professor at the institute of farming although he never farmed a day in his life.[5] In his youth, Cave Johnson became a successful business entrepreneur. Having his father's theories as the backbone, in 1943 he founded Aperture Fixtures, a shower curtain developer and manufacturer. Much of Johnson's early success came from Aperture Fixtures, and with the company developing high-tech shower curtains for most branches of the United States military as well as the public,[1] Johnson soon became a billionaire. Making use of his new wealth, in 1944 Johnson purchased a huge salt mine in Upper Michigan, whose tunnels extended over four kilometers below the surface. The main Aperture Fixtures facility was constructed within the underground caverns. Johnson's early achievements on display in the lobby of Aperture Science.Following this, in 1947Johnson decided to take a more broad scientific approach to Aperture Fixtures, and promptly renamed the company "Aperture Science". Johnson began to focus on experimental physics as new direction for the company, and although Johnson was well known for his unorthodox approach to science, Aperture Science received an award for Best New Science Company in 1947.

By the 1950s, Aperture Science was prospering. Within the Aperture Science Enrichment Center, Johnson took an active role in the company's testing of products, making voice announcements and pre-recorded messages to address Test Subjects, that consisted of specially selected astronauts, Olympians and war heroes. Johnson was aided by his assistant Caroline during this time, who remained loyal to him for decades to come. By this time, Aperture was in the process of developing the Quantum Tunneling Device, and various prototypes were utilized in the many test chambers rapidly constructed in Test Shaft 09 and beyond.[6] ===Financial troubles Edit === However, by the 1960s, Aperture's financial boom period had passed, and with countless products stuck in the testing phase as well as many being pulled from shelves for violating health and safety regulations, Aperture was beginning to struggle. In 1961, Johnson ordered the lower areas of Test Shaft 09 to be sealed off to hide the highly unethical experiments Aperture had been conducting. In 1968, Aperture Science was involved in U.S. Senate hearings regarding astronauts going missing following their participation in testing.[6] Cave Johnson in the 1970s.Later in 1968, Aperture was declared bankrupt. As a result, the company could no longer afford esteemed members of society for testing, and instead resorted to collecting homeless people from the street to participate in testing. These 'subjects' were offered $60 for their services, and offered an additional $60 (A total of $120 as Cave points out) if the 'subjects' would allow themselves to be disassembled and then reassembled in the name of science. Johnson was quite bitter about Aperture's bankruptcy, and did not attempt to hide his dislike for the homeless people he was forced to hire. Johnson blamed Black Mesa for Aperture's financial troubles, claiming that the rival company was stealing their ideas, but Johnson could not come up with the support he needed for these accusations and Black Mesa continued to flourish as Aperture declined (Johnson was right about Mesa stealing his company's ideas).[6]

By October 1976, Johnson had Aperture branch out in its selection of "low risk" test subjects to include child orphans, psychiatric patients and the elderly.[7] ===<span class="mw-headline" id="Decline_of_health_and_death" style="border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:baseline;">Decline of health and death <span class="editsection" style="border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:10px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:baseline;float:none;font-size:13px;">Edit === <p style="border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;margin-top:0.4em;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0.5em;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(58,58,58);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:21px;">By the 1980s, Aperture remained in financial turmoil. Desperate for a successful new product, in 1981 Johnson purchased approximately seventy million dollars-worth of Moon rocks for use in further mobility gel development, despite not having nearly enough money to cover the costs (he was told he could barely afford to buy $7 worth of moon rocks, let alone $70 million). Upon discovering that moon dust serves as a remarkable portal conductor, Johnson took an active role in its implementation into Conversion Gel. However, during the development of the Conversion Gel, Johnson contracted a severe illness as a result of his prolonged exposure to the moon dust, which slowly damaged his respiratory system and caused both of his kidneys to fail.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Reunion_7-0" style="border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:super;font-size:11px;line-height:0;">[8] A mandatory employee testing area in the 1980s, with a portrait of an older, ill Cave Johnson on the wall.<p style="border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;margin-top:0.4em;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0.5em;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(58,58,58);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:21px;">In response to Aperture's continued struggle for test subjects amidst financial turmoil, Johnson made testing mandatory for all employees. He stated that this dramatically raised the quality of test subjects, but dramatically reduced employee retention. As such he finally moved to phase out human testing.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Reunion_7-1" style="border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:super;font-size:11px;line-height:0;">[8]

<p style="border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;margin-top:1em;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:1em;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(58,58,58);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:21px;">During this time, Johnson continued to make pre-recorded messages over the intercom system, however few were on the subject of testing, and instead addressed employees about the future of the company, and many had Johnson raging over his imminent demise. Desperate to cheat death, in 1982 Johnson ordered his engineers to begin research and development on a computer system that could store his consciousness. However, should the system be completed after his death, Johnson ordered that his ever loyal assistant Caroline succeed him as CEO of Aperture, and have her consciousness uploaded instead, regardless of any protests she might have.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Reunion_7-2" style="border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:super;font-size:11px;line-height:0;">[8] Johnson died before the system was finished, and as per his dying command, Caroline was forced to be uploaded into GLaDOS.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-That_part_8-0" style="border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:super;font-size:11px;line-height:0;">[9] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Ellen_9-0" style="border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:super;font-size:11px;line-height:0;">[10] ===<span class="mw-headline" id="Appearances" style="border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:baseline;">Appearances <span class="editsection" style="border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:10px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:baseline;float:none;font-size:13px;">Edit === Graffiti and pasted photos left by Rattmann featuring Cave Johnson's username and password.====<span class="mw-headline" id="Portal" style="border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:baseline;">Portal <span class="editsection" style="border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:10px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:baseline;float:none;font-size:13px;">Edit ==== <p style="border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;margin-top:0.4em;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0.5em;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(58,58,58);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:21px;">In Portal, Johnson is only referred to once in the game, in a graffiti by Doug Rattmann found in Test Chamber 17, simply as "cjohnson" (followed by "tier3") scribbled on a wall, which appeared to be an administrator login and password for ApertureScience.com. Above can be found three portraits of men in suits with their heads masked by a Weighted Companion Cube. The bottom-left one has the words "Our Founder" under it and the letters "R.I.P." right beside; this is a portrait of Cave Johnson. ====<span class="mw-headline" id="Portal_2" style="border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:baseline;">Portal 2 <span class="editsection" style="border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:10px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:baseline;float:none;font-size:13px;">Edit ==== <p style="border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;margin-top:0.4em;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0.5em;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(58,58,58);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:21px;">In one of the memos revealed during the Portal ARG, Johnson announces that he is dead, and that he is able to write memos from beyond the grave.

<p style="border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;margin-top:1em;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:1em;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(58,58,58);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:21px;">In Portal 2, Johnson appears to be deceased, with only his automated pre-recorded voice messages playing to guide Chell through the forgotten bowels of the facility. The initial messages are intended for "astronauts, war heroes and olympians", indicating a time of prosperity for the company where the greatest members of society were used during testing. The messages show a steady decline in Johnson's sanity, and consequently the prosperity of his company. His 1970s era recordings state that Aperture was a major participant in the 1968 Senate hearings relating to some matter involving missing astronauts, and that Aperture has gone bankrupt. Johnson blames Aperture's bankruptcy on Black Mesa, claiming that they have stolen ideas that Aperture has invented. Aperture's economic troubles also show in announcements directed at test subjects, as the subjects are normally hobos who were picked off the street and offered up to $120 for testing ($60 for testing, $60 more if they allowed Aperture to disassemble and then reassemble them). Later, in the 1980s era recordings, Cave states that employees are required to test.

<p style="border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;margin-top:1em;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:1em;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(58,58,58);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:21px;">At one point, he states he had contracted a severe illness from contact with ground Moon rocks (the primary component of Conversion Gel). He also made it mandatory for all employees to undergo testing in the chambers. He ordered that technology be developed to allow him to be put into a computer, but it's apparent the tech wasn't finished before he died. He also ordered that, should this occur, Caroline was to be put in charge of Aperture, forcibly if necessary. This lead to the creation of GLaDOS, the antagonist of Portal. ==<span class="mw-headline" id="Personality_and_skills" style="border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:baseline;">Personality and skills <span class="editsection" style="border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:10px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:baseline;float:none;font-size:13px;">Edit == <p style="border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;margin-top:0.4em;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0.5em;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(58,58,58);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:21px;">Cave Johnson was an eccentric but highly-motivated man. He is said to have learned to "trust his gut," and to think in terms of "the big picture" without regard for details. He apparently had a poor personal understanding of science, but he understood people.

<p style="border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;margin-top:1em;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:1em;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(58,58,58);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:21px;">Johnson was extroverted, enthusiastic and opinionated. He seems to have been very energetic, perhaps even impulsive, and considered that life is an adventure he was happy to be on. He was born a salesman, a leader. People trusted him, even when his plans were clearly dangerous. He used his warm, homespun delivery to put people at ease. However, he appeared to be spoiled and refused to oblige to others' instructions. He was not particularly ethical, and he did not seem to accept the responsibility that came with his power: Many of his company's initiatives were dangerous and ill-conceived, but he evidently he was unconcerned or oblivious to their ramifications.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Casting1_10-0" style="border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:super;font-size:11px;line-height:0;">[11]

<p style="border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;margin-top:1em;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:1em;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(58,58,58);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:21px;">The results of the Aperture Science Collaborative Disposition Test tell that Johnson does not see crises - only challenging opportunities ("challengitunities") he chooses to scale like mountains, that he is a can-do, shoot-from-the-hip, silver-tongued self-starter, and a good match for any cooperative test partner, providing they shut up and listen.