Dr. Zimmer

Dr. Zimmer is a 58-year old scientist in Fallout 3 who is temporarily staying at Rivet City, searching for his prized escaped android in the year 2277. Zimmer hails from the Commonwealth, and has arrived at Rivet City in hopes of recovering his lost android.

Background
Not much is known about Dr. Zimmer except that he is a scientist from the Commonwealth, formerly the pre-War state of Massachusetts, who specializes in robotics, specifically androids. He is from the Institute, a mysterious organization with advanced technology and technological skills.

Sometime in 2277 Dr. Zimmer left the Commonwealth for the Capital Wasteland in search of a missing android. Accompanied by another android, Armitage, he made his way to Rivet City in the hopes that fellow scientist Dr. Madison Li could assist him in his search for his missing android. On arrival in the science lab he is refused the right to speak with Li by Anna Holt, Li's assistant. Despite being refused assistance he remains within the lab, refusing to leave and demanding he speaks directly with Li and refuses to leave until Li "stops playing with her chemistry set and starts talking real science".

Interactions with the player character
Zimmer offers you the The Replicated Man quest and you can either give him an android component that will make him think Harkness, the android he's looking for, is dead and will leave Rivet City and go back to The Institute. You can also tell him that Harkness is the android, and he'll go to Harkness and reset him and will head back to the Institute.

Quest: The Replicated Man

 * Main Article: The Replicated Man

The Lone Wanderer can choose to aid Zimmer in reclaiming his missing android, Harkness, or help the android escape capture.
 * 1) If the player chooses to warn Harkness of Zimmer's plan to capture him, Harkness will either kill Zimmer and his android bodyguard, Armitage, or evict them from Rivet City (depending on the player's responses to dialog). WARNING: If the player has not already given Zimmer the android component, it will be too late to do so at this point because Zimmer will no longer be available having been killed or evicted by Harkness. So if the player plans to give Zimmer the component it should be done before this.
 * 2) Warning Harkness will also yield the option of killing Zimmer yourself. If you choose this option, Harkness will give you A3-21's Plasma Rifle, which is in perfect condition and is worth over 2K caps.
 * 3) If the player chooses to inform Zimmer of Harkness's identity, Zimmer will capture and detain Harkness against his will.

Behind the scenes

 * The name Dr. Zimmer is possibly a reference to the movie Mandroid (1993), in which the character Dr. Karl Zimmer is the creator of a humanoid robot.
 * Zimmer slightly resembles Tyrell, the creator of the replicants in the movie Blade Runner; a strong influence upon 'The Replicated Man'.
 * Zimmer's appearance and behavior is very similar to the real-world Austrian psychiatrist, Sigmund Freud. It is possible that in behavior Zimmer is based on him.
 * The Institute is most likely a reference to MIT, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
 * Dr. Zimmer is possibly a reference to The Doctor on Star Trek: Voyager, a holographic representation of a computer designed to help during emergencies, created by a character in the TV series named Dr. Louis Zimmerman. It is also possible that both Zimmer and The Doctor are references to Mandroid.  Some claim that Dr. Zimmer bears a slight resemblance to The Doctor. http://www.onetruemedia.com/media/32/0ab5edf6110cbf5b/cd6d89a3ff38b1d3_large.jpg

Appearances
only appears in Fallout 3.