American Scientist

Inasmuch as art can inspire life, the science-themed television situation comedy The Big Bang Theory has inspired a body of real empirical research. The numerous published studies are varied, ranging from analyses of how the show influences students’ perceptions of the scientific method, to how it portrays women scientists, to how the term “geek” has become a new masculine identity. The show’s characters and their interplays have been used to frame an entire book on gender and sexuality roles. The show’s humor itself has been the subject of study, resulting in papers analyzing how the dialogue violates rules of politeness, or how this humor has been devilishly difficult to translate to other languages. It is not hard to fathom the reason for all this attention: The Big Bang Theory has been a top-rated show for 10 years—more than three times as long as the original Star Trek ran, and to much better ratings—making it a valuable specimen for understanding the depictions of science and engineering in popular culture. One recurring aspect of the show seems glaringly missing from all these studies, however.