Aperture Science

Aperture Science, Inc., sometimes simply referred to as Aperture, is an American scientific research corporation whose laboratories and administration are located in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Originally a shower curtain manufacturer, it evolved over the course of half a century into an experimental physics research institution and a bitter rival of Black Mesa. It was introduced on its real-world official website, ApertureScience.com, then featured in two games of The Orange Box: Portal, with the Aperture Laboratories as the game's main setting, and the Half-Life 2: Episode Two, where it is discussed near the end of the game. The Aperture Laboratories are also expected to be the main setting for Portal 2.

Cave Johnson era


In 1953, Aperture Science is founded by Cave Johnson, as a shower curtain manufacturer. The name "Aperture Science", seemingly random, is chosen "to make the curtains appear more hygienic". In 1956, the Eisenhower administration signs a contract with Aperture to manufacture shower curtains to all branches of the US Military, except the Navy. From 1957 to 1973, the company produces mostly shower curtains, eventually making Cave Johnson a billionaire. As far as 1973, Aperture also uses a BBS system.

In 1974, 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, likely because the decision of the Navy not getting its shower curtains from Aperture depended on that committee, and Johnson probably held a grudge against them for that. In 1976, both of Cave Johnson's kidneys fail. Brain damaged, dying, and incapable of realizing time is not now flowing backwards (thus realizing his time will come soon), he lays out a three tiered research and development program. The results, he says, will "guarantee the continued success of Aperture Science far into the fast-approaching distant past." What happens to Cave Johnson afterward is unknown, although it is surmised he dies.

The three tiers of this research and development program are:


 * Tier 1: The Heimlich Counter-Maneuver - "A reliable technique for interrupting the life-saving Heimlich Maneuver." In other words, ensure choking.


 * Tier 2: 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." It counters the real-life Make-A-Wish Foundation, designed to grant wishes to terminally ill children.


 * Tier 3: The 'Portal' project - As said by Johnson when it was first laid lout: "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." This is what will become the 'Portal' project, involving the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device and its creation of portals.

Post-Cave Johnson era


In 1981, Aperture engineers complete the Heimlich Counter-Maneuver and Take-A-Wish Foundation initiatives. The company announces products related to the research in a televised ceremony. These products become immediately wildly unpopular. After a string of very public 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 permanently recessed, and Aperture is granted an open-ended contract to secretly continue research on the 'Portal' and Heimlich Counter-Maneuver projects. From 1981 to 1985, work progresses on the 'Portal' project. During this time, several high ranking Fatah personnel choke to death on lamb chunks despite the intervention of their bodyguards, showing that the US government has apparently put the Heimlich Counter-Maneuver to work.

As far as 1982, the Enrichment Center, where Test Subjects undergo tests, is functioning, as the Enrichment Center Test Subject Application Process, a 50-question questionnaire destined for applying Test Subject, is already used at that time. It is unknown if the Enrichment Center is already "computer-aided" in 1982, as scientists have been known to supervise them from small offices until an undetermined date. The Enrichment Center Test Subject Application is operated by version 1.07 of GLaDOS, later "1.07a" and "1.09". In 1985, the Aperture Image Format is created.

In 1986, word reaches Aperture Science management that Black Mesa is working on a similar portal technology. In response to this news, Aperture Science begins developing GLaDOS. It is unknown why and how her name was already in use as far as in 1973. In 1985, the Aperture Image Format is maintained by Doug Rattmann. In 1996, after a decade spent bringing the Disk Operating System parts of GLaDOS to a state of more or less basic functionality, work begins on the Genetic Lifeform component. During that time, the Aperture Science Red Phone plan is implemented in case GLaDOS appears to become sentient and godlike, requiring an employee to sit by a red phone on a desk in GLaDOS chamber's entrance hall. In 1997, GLaDOS' version is 3.11. In May 1998, the untested AI of GLaDOS is activated for the first time as one of the planned activities on Aperture's first annual bring-your-daughter-to-work day. Upon being activated, she almost instantly becomes self-aware, takes control of the facility, locks everyone inside, floods the Enrichment Center with a deadly neurotoxin, but is partially halted when she is quickly fitted with a Morality Core. She then begins a permanent cycle of testing, aimed at beating Black Mesa in the race to develop a functioning portal technology. However a few days later, on May 16, the Black Mesa Incident occurs at the Black Mesa Research Facility, allowing aliens to teleport from Xen to Earth, eventually leading to the Combine invasion, stopping GLaDOS' race against Black Mesa.

GLaDOS' control


As seen in the hacker message found on ApertureScience.com referring to the lockdown, the remaining employees continue working, as they are said to be working on twenty year old equipment. The construction of an Enrichment Center is also mentioned, suggesting that the Aperture Laboratories house several of them. The number of Aperture Science employees also likely diminishes, until there are only a few of them left. The Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device is likely already completed at that time, but it is unknown if it is before or after GLaDOS' activation.

During that period, Portal Storms continue to rage on Earth that spreads into chaos, eventually leading to the Seven Hour War, resulting in Earth being defeated by the Combine. Later, around 20 after GLaDOS' activation, Gordon Freeman is awaken from his stasis by the G-Man, and arrives in City 17, which will greatly disturb the Combine's grasp on Earth.

Portal era


At the time of the events depicted in Portal set a few years after the Half-Life 2 story arc, the Enrichment Center seems to be long abandoned, and GLaDOS seems to rule it alone, although other people are apparently still trapped somewhere. The scribblings left by Rattmann also seem rather old, showing that the Enrichment Center has been partially abandoned for some time. A calendar named "The girls of Aperture Science", dated 1983, is also rather worn-out. Chell is awakened in her Relaxation Vault in Enrichment Center, and is guided as a Test Subject by GLaDOS, utilizing the completed ASHPD, while the A.I. shows signs of instability. When GLaDOS attempts to murder Chell at the end of her tests, she flees through maintenance areas of the Enrichment Center, and eventually seemingly destroys GLaDOS, before being dragged away inside by the Party Escort Bot.

Before her partial destruction, GLaDOS hints to Chell that things have changed since the last time she left the building, and that what is going on out there will make her wish she were back in here. GLaDOS also says she was the only thing standing between them [GLaDOS and Chell] and an undetermined group, likely the Combine (possibly now defeated - a question left to be answered in Episode Three).

Portal 2 era
Portal 2 is set "hundreds of years" after Portal. During that time Aperture Science as it originally was likely does not exist anymore, as GLaDOS and the Personality Cores took over the partially destroyed facility, where tests are still performed. If there were other people still trapped in the facility during the Portal events, they are likely all dead.

Other facts



 * Aperture Science owned a research ship, named Borealis, housing a yet to be revealed technology. It disappeared and took a chunk of its drydock with it and soon became a legend amongst the scientific community. Debate raged between Eli Vance and Isaac Kleiner over whether the technology within should be destroyed or used. Kleiner said he felt that the power could be used to destroy the Combine, but Eli seemed to suggest that he felt that trying to utilize the power could result in a repeat of the Black Mesa Incident.


 * Aperture Science and Black Mesa were bitter rivals. As seen in the Portal maps " " and " ", Aperture Science employees were briefed on Black Mesa through slideshow presentations, such as one titled "Dollar$ and Sense: Competing with Black Mesa for DoD and Government-wide Acquisition Contracts" (apparently made in the nineties, given its style). This slideshow gives some statistics pertaining to Black Mesa, a graphic comparing the GSA schedules for both Black Mesa and Aperture Science, showing that Black Mesa did not ask much and received more or less the same, while Aperture asked a lot, and received much less than Black Mesa, and compares what Aperture and Black Mesa have to submit to the Defense Logistics Agency for developing a Fuel System Icing Inhibitor, and the role of their GLaDOS in that task. These slides show how much they were directly competing for government funding; Isaac Kleiner also theorized that the Borealis disaster may have been caused by Aperture Science's rush for such funding.

"Dollar$ and Sense" slides

 * During Chell's tests, GLaDOS mentions a "self esteem fund for girls", to which one can donate one or all of their vital organs. This is likely true, as it is apparently said as one of GLaDOS' few automatic messages.


 * The bring-your-daughter-to-work day mentioned on ApertureScience.com is also mentioned by GLaDOS in Portal, where she says that that day is the perfect time to have one's daughter tested.


 * A memo found among the ASCII art images revealed during the Portal ARG states that Aperture Science is built on three pillars, apparently coined by Cave Johnson himself:


 * Another memo suggests that Cave Johnson had some issues with official accountants, who were likely responsible for managing the funds given by the state, as they seem to be an authority higher than him.


 * Another memo appears to be a letter from Johnson to several Test Subjects who raised their concerns about the dangers of the research conducted by Aperture Science.


 * As suggested in Portal, Aperture has not much concern about its Test Subjects. A memo revealed by the Portal ARG apparently consisting of the answer to a (confidential) letter received by Cave Johnson elaborates on this, and seems to describe the four types of Test Subjects and their behavior, in a not very human way. It goes as follows:

Known personnel



 * Cave Johnson (Founder and CEO, 1953 - 1976)
 * Doug Rattmann (programmer)
 * Chell (Test Subject)
 * Test Subject #042 (Test Subject)
 * Test Subject #234 (Test Subject)

Known technology

 * 1500 Megawatt Heavy Duty Super-Colliding Super Button
 * Advanced Knee Replacement
 * Aerial Faith Plate
 * The Borealis (containing a yet to be revealed technology)
 * Excursion Funnel
 * Emergency Intelligence Incinerator
 * Work on a Fuel System Icing Inhibitor
 * GLaDOS
 * High Energy Pellet
 * Material Emancipation Grid
 * Military Android
 * Paint
 * Party Escort Bot
 * Aperture Science Pipe Network
 * Pneumatic Diversity Vent
 * Personality Core
 * Projected Bridge
 * Weighted Pivot Cube
 * Radio
 * Security camera
 * Shower curtains (originally)
 * Speaker System
 * Work on teleportation, with the ASHPD and its portal creation
 * Thermal Discouragement Beam
 * Two unnamed robots (Test Subjects)
 * Unstationary Scaffold
 * Vital Apparatus Vent
 * Weighted Storage Ball
 * Weighted Storage Ball Bucket
 * Weighted Storage Cube
 * Wheatley

Known weapons

 * Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device
 * Rocket Sentry
 * Sentry Gun

Behind the scenes
On ApertureScience.com, "1975", "1978" and "1979" were originally given as the date for Aperture Science ceasing manufacturing only shower curtains, Johnson's mercury poisoning, and Johnson's kidney failure, respectively. These dates were later retconned to 1973, 1974 and 1976, as seen in the updated Aperture Science timeline on Game Informer.

Artwork gallery
Portal is filled with Aperture Science and Aperture Laboratories logos, with numerous color variants.

Aperture Science logo variants
As with Black Mesa, the Aperture Science logo is directly based on the company's name, appearing as a stylized, partially closed diaphragm, with an aperture in the center. An "aperture" is an adjustable opening in an optical instrument, such as a camera or telescope, that controls the amount of light passing through a lens or onto a mirror. An "aperture" can also simply refer to any opening. However the name "Aperture Science" is likely random, as it was merely chosen for its shower curtains to appear "more hygienic". Dog's unique eye is also an aperture in a diaphragm; the Emergency Intelligence Incinerator is also topped by a diaphragm. Furthermore, real-life logos such as the Picasa or the Jyske Bank logos bear similarities with the Aperture Science logo.

Aperture Laboratories logo variants
The Aperture Laboratories logo features the Aperture Science "diaphragm", minus one of its irises, and the words "Aperture Laboratories", written in the fonts Segoe and Helvetica, respectively.

List of appearances

 * ApertureScience.com
 * Portal
 * Half-Life 2: Episode Two
 * Portal ARG
 * Portal 2