to create a special category for fictional characters to recognize Cimrman's popularity, and Czech Television also made a documentary about him; however, they did not reinstate him to the main contest. Jára Cimrman as a character Early life The son of Leopold Cimrman, a Czech tailor working in Vienna, and Marlén Cimrmanová, born Jelinková, an Austrian actress, Cimrman was said to have been born in either 1853 or 1859 (though sometimes other years have been cited as required). Of possible Jewish heritage, Cimrman's name was originally spelt "Zimrman", like the German surname "Zimmermann", and he changed it later on as a mark of his Czech patriotism. Cimrman attended Czech and German schools in Vienna, and continued his studies in Prague. Due to the family's poverty, Cimrman's parents dressed him in second-hand clothes from his sister Luisa, and sent him to a girls' school, hiding his identity from him. When he discovered the truth aged 15, it triggered an identity crisis but is also said to have been the moment when his genius emerged. No pictures of Cimrman are said to have been found and so his appearance is unknown. Contributions As mentioned in his plays, some of Jára Cimrman's achievements and contributions include: He proposed the Panama Canal to the U.S. government, while composing a libretto for an opera of the same name. He reformed the school system in Galicia. With Count Zeppelin he constructed the first rigid airship using Swedish steel and Czech wicker (the wicker being for the cabin). He was deported from Germany as an anarchist, his personal documents carrying a note that he was "a source of unrest." This led the Swiss company Omega to offer him a job to improve the unrest—balance wheel—for their Piccolo line of ladies watches. (N.B. the Czech and German words for a watch's balance wheel ("nepokoj", "Unruhe") mean "unrest.") While in Switzerland, he introduced (and practised for some time) the field of obstetrics. He conducted investigations into the life of cannibalistic tribes in the Arctic; and once, while running away from the furious tribe, he missed the North Pole by just seven meters, thus almost becoming the first human reaching the North Pole. In Paraguay he supposedly created the first puppet-show. In Vienna he established the school of criminology, music and ballet. He corresponded with George Bernard Shaw for many years, without response. He invented yogurt. He helped many great