Jordan Fischer's almost true story
In 1900, in the impoverished rural area of Heidelberg, Jordan Fischer was born. His birth was difficult, the doctor was drunk and he accidentally dropped the baby on his head. If Frau Fischer hadn't been giving birth lying on a reed mat on the floor, the boy would likely have died.
The inches that separated Jordan Fischer from the ground saved him, but the fall affected his ability to think. The drunk doctor condemned him to be an idiot. Even so, life reserved for him a dignified role.
When he was 20 years old Fischer was hired to sweep the laboratories of Heidelberg University, where he met Dr. Karl Gustav Heisenborg. An ambitious scientist, Heisenborg had developed and perfected a technique to keep life in suspension. He had already tested his invention on insects and small animals and now needed a human guinea pig.
Jordan Fischer was the ideal candidate, as in addition to being an idiot, he had no siblings and had already lost his parents. Heisenborg slowly approached the sweeper and investigated its life. Two years later, when he felt confident he could use it, the scientist offered Ficher a few pounds of chocolate and convinced him to join in a prank. He would just have to lie down in a box and sleep. When he woke up Jordan would be given an additional portion of chocolate.
Happily, the sweeper agreed to participate in the game. As he was a simple, naive and happy man, he actually slept after lying down in the "life suspension box" built by Dr. Heisenborg. But then tragedy struck. After returning home from his bicycle home on the night of the experiment, the scientist was run over by a truck and died. For lack of a replacement scientist, his lab was temporarily closed and no one really cared that Jordan Fischer had gone missing.
A few years later, Dr. Karl Gustav Heisenborg's former laboratory was reopened. His replacement hired by the Heidelberg University demanded that the place be completely renovated and equipped with new modern equipment. The junk, papers and equipment that were in the place were removed to an attic where they were forgotten for a few decades.
In 1952, the attic in which Dr. Heisenborg's things were kept was opened at the request of a young student who intended to write a book on the history of science. The girl first collected all the scientist's papers and organized them. After it she began to read and take notes. After a few days of reading, Raika Schmutz came across the notes about the scientist's experiment with Jordan Fischer. Unknowingly, she had sat in the "life suspension box" several times while working alone in that attic.
Raika immediately notified the head of the department. A committee of scientists was organized. Dr. Karl Gustav Heisenborg's "life suspension box" was carefully transported from the attic to a laboratory. By meticulously studying the deceased colleague's notes, the scientists were able to learn the correct way to open the box and awaken that living fossil.
When he awoke Jordan Fischer smiled as if nothing had happened and demanded the portion of chocolate he was entitled to. Luckily Raika had a candy bar in her bag and gave it to the sweeper, who immediately ate it like he was a child.
Feeling responsible for what happened, the rector of the Heidelberg University decided to compensate that poor human being whose life had been suspended for thirty years. Fischer would receive a small pension and could live in a university employee apartment. He asked to go back to work as a lab sweeper and he was allowed to do so, but only for 5 hours a day. Even though he felt young as if he'd woken up after a night's sleep, Jordan Fischer had aged during the experiment.
The committee of scientists responsible for the Fischer case concluded that the experiment was partially successful, but Dr. Karl Gustav Heisenborg's work would not be resumed. That kind of science was unethical, inadequate and inhumane, possibly contaminated by what could possibly be called Nazi ideals.
The sweeper of the laboratories of Heidelberg resumed his life without worrying about the subtleties of the philosophical and scientific debate. Whenever she saw him again, Raika Schmutz would give him a candy bar. Daughter of an SS officer killed on the Russian front, the young student of the history of science knew that Jordan Fischer was privileged. If he hadn't been turned into Dr. Heisenborg's guinea pig, that idiot sweeper would likely have been exterilized and eventually exterminated by the Nazis in the late 1930s, or possibly died horribly in a city burned down by Allied bombers.
Jordan Fischer's curious story could have a happy ending. But in modern Germany life always mimics tragedy before it is imitated by art.
Unfortunately when DW reported that Dr. Heisenborg's guinea pig was turning 95 and made a documentary about his life, Fischer also became the symbol of what neo-Nazis hate the most. The gentle, innocent old man was stabbed to death by followers of Wolfgang Gerhard Günter Ebel as he walked to his modest home.
Some people believe that SpaceX is trying to buy Dr. Karl Gustav Heisenborg's notes on the "life suspension box" and the Jordan Fischer experiment. Heidelberg University says this is just speculation. Who knows... The future of space civilization may depend on a Nazi successful failure.