Julie Langford

"Ryan's woman in Arcadia is an old betty named Langford. An okay sort, but not above doing a dirty job for a dollar."

- Atlas

Professor Julie Langford, Ph.D., was the scientist responsible for creating and governing Arcadia, a garden and arboretum that supplied oxygen to Rapture. Unlike most residents of Rapture, she does not seem to be spliced or have an affliction from ADAM abuse, and seems relatively normal, despite her dangerous environment.

History
Before her descent to the underwater city, Langford was a renowned botanist and professor at the University of California Berkeley, where she had worked since the 1920s. Her research attracted both praise for its groundbreaking findings, and controversy for her "radical theories". For a time she worked for the United States government, offering assistance with various defoliation projects during the Second World War, including use against the Japanese on Iwo Jima. An audio diary entry indicates that she has a daughter named Becky; what became of her child is unknown. Her disappearance after leaving for Rapture did not go unnoticed. A newspaper article dated to January 7th of 1949 commented that she was still missing at that date, despite an “intensive investigation”.

Although truly loving the plants and her work on the garden of Arcadia, she eventually was forced into making it a commodity, available only to paying visitors. Andrew Ryan decided to charge citizens not only for taking a stroll in Arcadia, but also to sell the vital oxygen created by the arboretum. She accepted such decisions, as in a later audio diary she states that she would have complained, but then remembered who signed her paychecks.

As the use of Plasmids caused society in Rapture to deteriorate, Langford kept to her work. She was busy using the scientific advances of ADAM in her work. One project was the Lazarus Vector, a concoction that would be able to bring trees back from the dead. During this time, Langford had trouble with the Saturnine, a group of Splicers who stole many of her materials for use in their nature worship cult. Near the end of the Rapture Civil War, when Ryan had the city in lockdown, Langford stayed in her office in Arcadia due to her refusal to leave while she was close to a breakthrough in her project.

BioShock
When Andrew Ryan released a chemical into the atmosphere that threatened to destroy the plant life in Arcadia, Jack, spurred on by Atlas, sought out Langford to see if she could help. As Jack approaches the locked laboratory, Langford appears on several televisions outside the lab and is startled by what had happened to her trees. She accuses Jack for the death of them but quickly realizes that it was done by Ryan's hands and asks Jack to find her a sample of Rosa Gallica while she continues working. When Jack gives her the rose he is granted access to her lab but when he finally reached Langford, Andrew Ryan flooded her office with a toxic gas, while reminding her about how he holds property rights to Arcadia and the contract for the manufacture of the Lazarus Vector. Just before dying, Julie scrawls the combination to her safe on the window of her office. Within the safe, the player finds the formula for the Lazarus Vector, a concoction invented by Langford that promises to revive Arcadia's trees and other plant life.

BioShock 2 Multiplayer
One of Julie Langford's quotes is seen in the multiplayer loading screen, commenting on the Saturnine.


 * "The Saturnine? Please... they dress up in leaves... drinking human blood... An aging bunch of frat boys..."

A redesigned version of her lab is seen in the multiplayer version of Arcadia.

Audio Diaries

 * Arcadia
 * Arcadia Closed
 * The Saturnine
 * Early Tests Promising
 * What Won't They Steal
 * Teaching an Old Hound
 * Lazarus Vector Formula
 * The Lazarus Vector
 * Arcadia and Oxygen

Julie Langford 

Also see the Radio Messages involving Langford.

Behind the Scenes

 * Julie Langford uses a variant of Lady Smith Splicer model. They also shares the same voice actress.
 * Langford was from the start a male character called: Holden Langford, but Ken Levine felt that they didn't have many female characters in the game and so the change was made. A sign for her research lab still reads "Holden Langford" if one would look on it with the art subtitle on.
 * In the audio diary: "The Lazarus Vector" a character named "Becky" is mentioned, it is unclear if this is Langford's daughter, a colleague, or even her pet.