Majoring in TV: Physics Nerds Find Resonance in The Big Bang Theory

As a Barnard College sophomore, major declaration is swiftly sneaking up on me. Will I fulfill my spirit, and choose English? My wallet, and choose economics? My brain, and choose biology?

I can’t answer that question for myself, so I certainly can’t answer it for you, but I can show you the pop-culture equivalent of your choice. Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be analyzing-criticizing-mocking a major and its network television equivalent. Hopefully I will provide a few laughs amid the angst of declaration.

“Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock!” cry the hilariously awkward geniuses of the CBS sophomore hit, The Big Bang Theory. You might wonder how or why lizards and Spock made their way into your favorite childhood pastime, but imagine this: you are a socially inept physics prodigy living in the epicenter of all unattainable women, Los Angeles. You have only three friends who are just as nerdy as you. You work in a lab all day. And you most certainly have never had a girlfriend. Rock, Paper, Scissors might get a little boring, would it not?

It is quite amazing that a group of geniuses have found themselves on network television, and especially on CBS—the network known for its bevy of procedurals. The Big Bang Theory was their leap of faith for a different audience, perhaps younger and more learned. Well, maybe not more learned. Sure, the show centers on young scientists and makes jokes about Schrödinger’s cat, but it is essentially a nerdy-boy-meets-pretty-girl-and-must-wait-until-end-of-series-to-get-girl kind of show. If it wasn’t for the adorable acting of Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons as they navigate the odd-couple conundrum of living next door to Charmed’s Kaley Cuoco, the show would have a much harder time finding an audience willing to sift through all that physics blabber to find a traditional sitcom.

But alas, physics, too, is a character of its own. It permeates insults, excuses, compliments, and, of course, joins in on all the Rock, Paper, Scissors fun. Although I rarely take the time to understand the jokes instead of just laughing at their delivery, I do wonder if real physicists are like these geeks. Can they not separate their work from their personal lives? Do they have personal lives? Do they care that this show is probably the only access the average person has to physics?

It seems like the answer would be a resounding no, at least to the caring part. I contacted some professors in the physics departments and although several responded to my questions, only one had ever seen the show—Professor Laura Kay of the Barnard College department of physics and astronomy. She is also part of the women’s studies department, and her answer reflected that: “I do think it’s funny, but it’s not about physics. It’s about physics geeks. And it’s kind of annoying that it is still all male geeks—they still haven’t managed to get a girl geek into the regular mix.”

The other professors had little to add about the show. Professor Reshmi Mukherjee of the Barnard Physics Department responded, “I am sorry, I don’t watch the show. Is it a series?” Professor Emlyn Hughes also replied via e-mail, writing, “I am sorry to report that I do not own a TV.”

The Big Bang Theory probably misleads the occasional TV-viewer into thinking that physics has something at all to do with the show. And although it would be nice to think that our majors have something to do with the real world, we won’t be seeing it on this show. But for some physics fluff, it doesn’t get much better than this.