Ernő Goldfinger of Brutalist architecture. Goldfinger was known as a humourless man given to notorious rages. He sometimes fired his assistants if they were inappropriately jocular, and once forcibly ejected two prospective clients for imposing restrictions on his design. A discussion about Ernő with Goldfinger's cousin, on a golf course prompted Ian Fleming to name the James Bond adversary and villain Auric Goldfinger after Ernő (Fleming had previously been among the objectors to the pre-war demolition of the cottages in Hampstead that were removed to make way for Goldfinger's house at 2 Willow Road). Goldfinger consulted his lawyers when "Goldfinger" was published
Auric Goldfinger ranch. Goldfinger is later revealed to be planning to place an atomic device containing cobalt and iodine into Fort Knox, rendering the gold radioactive and useless for 58 years, increasing the value of his own gold and giving the Chinese an advantage resulting from the ensuing economic chaos. Bond, at this point held captive by Goldfinger, is able to smuggle the details of the operation out to his CIA associate Felix Leiter and, taken along on the operation by Goldfinger, ultimately thwarts the operation by defusing the atomic device. With Fort Knox safe, Bond is invited to the White House