Tio Holtzman

"Tio Holtzman was one of the most productive Ixian inventors on record. He often went on creative binges, locking himself up for months on end so that he could work without interruption. Sometimes upon emerging he required hospitalization, and there were constant concerns over his sanity and well-being. Holtzman died young - barely past thirty Standard Years - but the results of his efforts changed the galaxy forever."

- Biographical Capsules, an Imperial filmbook

Tio Holtzman (204-174 BG) was an enigmatic genius before and during the Butlerian Jihad, best remembered as the inventor of the Holtzman Effect and its subsidiary technologies including the Holtzman shield, which played a critical role in numerous technological developments.

The veracity of this fact was later questioned by Leto Atreides II, who used other memory to conclude that Norma Cenva was the actual discoverer of the principle.

Life
The famed inventor Tio Holtzman resided on the planet Poritrin, where slavery was commonplace. It is thought that his heritage was Ixian. Holtzman worked under the protection and patronage of the nobleman Lord Niko Bludd. He gained celebrity stature when his inventions were the major defense against the thinking machines; he was also a recipient of the Poritrin Medal of Valor and Medal of Glory and the Service to Poritrin Award. However his career waned when their Achilean heel was discovered at the Battle of Zimia: Cymeks, having human brains, could penetrate the scrambler shields unharmed, and prepare the ground for a machine attack.

Holtzman had not come up with as many new brilliant inventions as he used to but soon came across the work of Cenva, a dwarfish woman from Rossak; realizing her genius, he invited her to come and work with him on Poritrin.

Cenva's name was eventually forgotten by history, as she was more interested in improving defensive shields and developing 'foldspace' travel, making it safer and more efficient. Her efforts help humanity defeat the forces of Omnius. Cenva saved his life (and many of Starda citizens) when she prevented him from testing a personal force-shield against lasgun fire. Holtzman was reluctant to take her warnings seriously until she appealed to Lord Bludd personally. The test was finally done on an asteroid, and Cenva was proven correct since the impact of these two technologies results in sub-atomic fusion and a nuclear explosion. This overlook due to Holtzman's eagerness was a serious hit to his morale.

After the nuking of Earth, Holtzman was a part of the cyber-experts who attempted to interrogate the Earth-Omnius gelglobe captured by Xavier Harkonnen. He also had gradually cut Cenva off from his projects set of workrooms down by the docks, in favor of other assistants and later proved to be a fierce antagonist. Holtzman and Bludd, persuaded by Aurelius Venport, agreed to surrender Cenva to VenKee Enterprises in turn of the commercial right of the glowglobes, when Tio realized their new project. While Venport was off to Arrakis to settle the problem with the Wormriders, Holtzman persuaded Bludd to close the project and expel Cenva and Tuk Keedair from the planet. They raided her laboratories under the auspice of her working against the security of Poritrin.

During Aliid's slave rebellion, Holtzman realized that intruder slaves entered his mansion. Aliid who worked there as a young solver, remembered the location and wanted to take his personal revenge. Holtzman wore a personal force-shield for protection, but saw that Aliid was armed with a lasgun.

Aliid ignorant of the effect, shot Holtzman, and the resulting explosion destroyed both of them, along with most of the Starda.

Character
Despite Holtzman's abilities as a savant and scholar, he was mainly interested in his public image and to retain his celebrity status. Hence, he spent much time socializing in balls and noble meetings.

Holtzman discovered that Norma Cenva was much more creative than he was, and, after being upstaged by her genius twice, began to despise her. Eventually, he took credit for her mathematical theories, which lead to many practical uses for Holtzman's original discovery, the so-called Holtzman effect, including the Holtzman Drive, Holtzman Shields, suspensors and glowglobes.

Holtzman also endorsed the slave policy on Poritrin and was totally indifferent to their welfare, to Norma's dismay.

Behind the Scenes
A Holtzman is only mentioned briefly by Frank Herbert in the original Dune novels. The Dune Encyclopedia extrapolated his character as Ibrahim Vaughn Holtzman.

The above character is expanded upon by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson in their Legends of Dune trilogy of novels.

Tio Holtzman is mentioned in Dune: House Atreides. There is an epigraph by Biographical Capsules where it says that he was an Ixian who died in his mid-30s. However, in the novels Holtzman appears middle-aged, and his Ixian heritage is not mentioned.

Appearances

 * Dune: The Butlerian Jihad - First appearance
 * Dune: The Machine Crusade
 * Dune: The Battle of Corrin - Mentioned only
 * Dune: House Atreides - Mentioned only
 * Dune: House Corrino - Mentioned only
 * Dune - Mentioned only
 * Chapterhouse: Dune - Mentioned only