After recalling episodes from Pascual Jordan's biography including his
pivotal role in the shaping of quantum field theory and his much criticized
conduct during the NS regime, I draw attention to his presentation of the first
phase of development of quantum field theory in a talk presented at the 1929
Kharkov conference. He starts by giving a comprehensive account of the
beginnings of quantum theory, emphasising that particle-like properties arise
as a consequence of treating wave-motions quantum-mechanically. He then goes on
to his recent discovery of quantization of ``wave fields'' and problems of
gauge invariance. The most surprising aspect of Jordan's presentation is
however his strong belief that his field quantization is a transitory not yet
optimal formulation of the principles underlying causal, local quantum physics.
The expectation of a future more radical change coming from the main architect
of field quantization already shortly after his discovery is certainly quite
startling. I try to answer the question to what extent Jordan's 1929
expectations have been vindicated. The larger part of the present essay
consists in arguing that Jordan's plea for a formulation without ``classical
correspondence crutches'', i.e. for an intrinsic approach (which avoids
classical fields altogether), is successfully addressed in past and recent
publications on local quantum physics.