Dr. Nasenkopf, a mechanical engineer of exceptional skill and Polynesian Maori descent, designed the trans-Pacific underwater Marine Express to link Los Angeles and Japan. His academic years in Germany and America were marred by racial prejudice, particularly from a classmate who bullied him and later rose to become the U.S. Secretary of State known as Director Credit—experiences that deeply shaped his motivations surrounding the train’s consequences.

He joined the Marine Express test run accompanied by his two sons: Rock, his adopted human child serving as the train’s pilot, and Adam, a robot of his own creation. Dr. Nasenkopf programmed Adam with one directive—to override the train’s controls and detonate it upon reaching the Mariana Trench. This drastic plan arose from the doctor’s intense environmental convictions; he believed the train’s operation would cause irreversible harm to ocean ecosystems and accelerate the industrialization of Polynesian islands. His stance framed industrial progress as a threat, rendering him a figure whose preservationist ideals justified extreme measures.

During the voyage, Dr. Nasenkopf suffered critical injuries in a clash with criminals aboard the train, requiring emergency brain surgery by Black Jack. Adam, despite grappling with existential doubts about his purpose, executed the mission. The detonation sequence activated after the train was flung 30,000 years into the past to the ancient civilization of Mu. Adam’s triggered explosion killed Dr. Nasenkopf, himself, and the antagonist Sharaku. Though unfolding in an unforeseen historical setting, this act achieved the doctor’s objective: preventing the Marine Express from ever endangering the environment, at the ultimate cost of his life.