# How Old Are The Character on "The Big Bang Theory" Suppose To Be? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 20, 2010, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-are-the-character-on-the-big-bang-theory-suppose-to-be/525747 "2010-01-20T21:44:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2012, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-are-the-character-on-the-big-bang-theory-suppose-to-be/525747/61 "2012-01-27T18:20:29Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > In the episode where Sheldon lent Penny money, he stated he didn’t spend a lot of his income. He doesn’t cash paychecks. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2012, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-are-the-character-on-the-big-bang-theory-suppose-to-be/525747/62 "2012-01-28T15:09:18Z")
Is Sheldon officially asperger’s or just nerdy? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2012, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-are-the-character-on-the-big-bang-theory-suppose-to-be/525747/63 "2012-01-28T16:52:22Z")
> [@GreenElf](#): > > Is Sheldon officially asperger’s or just nerdy? Officially just nerdy. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2012, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-are-the-character-on-the-big-bang-theory-suppose-to-be/525747/64 "2012-01-28T18:04:11Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > - hope to get my iron ring in 2011 Hey, did you? I got mine in 2011 😉 > [@Tengu](#): > > That certainly sounds like the boys, yes. (Except the poorly paid part, for Sheldon - see the earlier reference to his uncashed pay cheques.) > > To the OP’s original question, despite the actors’ ages, I think Sheldon’s probably the youngest of the guys, probably closer to Penny’s age - he’s an insanely high level child prodigy, who seems to have gotten his PhD in his mid-teens, so about 10 years before the others, relatively speaking, **but he doesn’t seem to have been at the school for that much longer than them,** so I’d say he’s probably about 5 years younger. (Could go a bit older if his ‘visiting faculty’ travels went a good long while.) In the episode where Leonard is telling Penny about how he came to live with Sheldon, it seemed pretty clear to me that Sheldon was already fairly well established in his sparsely-furnished apartment. Did they refer to Sheldon’s position at the school in that episode, or mention anything about how long he’d been there? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-are-the-character-on-the-big-bang-theory-suppose-to-be/525747/65 "2012-01-28T23:29:12Z")
> [@sachertorte](#): > > I always assumed they were non-faculty researchers. They never call each other or are referred to as “Professor,” so they are clearly not faculty. It’s always “Dr.” this and “Dr.” that, so a professor position is out. Whether or not CalTech actually has non-postdoc, non-faculty research positions, I don’t know – but other institutions do. A standard research university will have some faculty with research-only duties. Typical titles might be “Research Scientist” or some such. But it gets confusing. One department I worked at had several low level teaching-only flunkies with “Research Scientist” titles. This let the place pay them less, not worry about long term contracts (the money and thus the position could go away rather quickly) with no tenure prospects. As to the Dr./Prof. nomenclature, it also varies. At my first position I was “Professor”, at the next one sometimes “Professor” and sometimes “Doctor” and then at the last one just “Doctor”. So I wouldn’t go by any of the show’s terminology. Especially since they have no idea as to how the real CalTech is run. But if you’re doing research, you will have grad students. They are a must. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2012, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-are-the-character-on-the-big-bang-theory-suppose-to-be/525747/66 "2012-01-28T23:56:31Z")
> [@Sister\_Vigilante](#): > > Leonard does donate to the sperm bank and the first scene is him waiting for Sheldon to finish (he didn’t like the “motivational materials” I believe, so it took him longer). They are doing it so they can have money for dinner. And there is a nerd girl Sheldon had sex with while cosplaying as Spock undergoing Pon Farr. Definitely not the pilot I saw when they sent me a video and a questionnaire. My parents, who watched it with me, would have freaked. Did the first pilot even get it picked up? Starting off with frank masturbation jokes doesn’t seem to be a winning formula for a sitcom, as they traditionally want a family audience. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2012, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-are-the-character-on-the-big-bang-theory-suppose-to-be/525747/67 "2012-01-29T00:05:03Z")
> [@GreenElf](#): > > Is Sheldon officially asperger’s or just nerdy? IMO, the reason he’s not cannonically asperger’s is because th writers don’t want to be accussed of “not doing the research”. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2012, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-are-the-character-on-the-big-bang-theory-suppose-to-be/525747/68 "2012-01-29T02:33:43Z")
> [@](#): > > A standard research university will have some faculty with research-only duties. Typical titles might be “Research Scientist” or some such. But it gets confusing. One department I worked at had several low level teaching-only flunkies with “Research Scientist” titles. This let the place pay them less, not worry about long term contracts (the money and thus the position could go away rather quickly) with no tenure prospects. Most universities will have people with this status, but the usual title for them is “adjunct” or “instructor”. Sometimes an adjunct can (with luck) become tenure-track, sometimes they jump around from place to place every few years, and sometimes they just keep getting their contract renewed year after year for an entire career. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-are-the-character-on-the-big-bang-theory-suppose-to-be/525747/69 "2012-01-30T14:54:43Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > IMO, the reason he’s not cannonically asperger’s is because th writers don’t want to be accussed of “not doing the research”. I think you’re sort of right, but I’d come at it from another direction: If they officially gave Sheldon Asperger’s, they’d be imposing restraints on their own writing. They’re going to write the character in whatever way they think is funny or advances the story, and they sure don’t need a bunch people saying “A person with Asperger’s would never do _that_!!!1!!!11!!!” I don’t blame them. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-are-the-character-on-the-big-bang-theory-suppose-to-be/525747/70 "2012-01-30T15:37:18Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Definitely not the pilot I saw when they sent me a video and a questionnaire. My parents, who watched it with me, would have freaked. > > Did the first pilot even get it picked up? Starting off with frank masturbation jokes doesn’t seem to be a winning formula for a sitcom, as they traditionally want a family audience. Huh? I know plenty of sitcoms that don’t “want” a family audience. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-are-the-character-on-the-big-bang-theory-suppose-to-be/525747/71 "2012-01-31T10:56:54Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > Howard is 28, he’s said so quite a few times. I think the rest are in their late 20’s. In a recent episode [This season, IIRC] , in the past two weeks or so, Leonerd comments to Howard: “You are 30 and you live with your Mom.” ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-are-the-character-on-the-big-bang-theory-suppose-to-be/525747/72 "2012-01-31T11:56:48Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > IMO, the reason he’s not cannonically asperger’s is because th writers don’t want to be accussed of “not doing the research”. I read an interview with one of the producers last year in which he said that Sheldon doesn’t have Asperger’s because if he did, they’d be making fun of a handicapped person every week. Basically, it’s OK to laugh at someone who’s weird, but it’s not OK to laugh at someone who suffers from a medical condition and can’t help doing what he does. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-are-the-character-on-the-big-bang-theory-suppose-to-be/525747/73 "2012-01-31T17:22:54Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Definitely not the pilot I saw when they sent me a video and a questionnaire. My parents, who watched it with me, would have freaked. > > Did the first pilot even get it picked up? Starting off with frank masturbation jokes doesn’t seem to be a winning formula for a sitcom, as they traditionally want a family audience. I don’t think this is the one that got it picked up. As I said it was definitely cringeworthy. I think they revamped the whole thing and made a new pilot, which is what everyone remembers. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-are-the-character-on-the-big-bang-theory-suppose-to-be/525747/74 "2012-01-31T20:19:53Z")
> [@](#): > > I read an interview with one of the producers last year in which he said that Sheldon doesn’t have Asperger’s because if he did, they’d be making fun of a handicapped person every week. > > Basically, it’s OK to laugh at someone who’s weird, but it’s not OK to laugh at someone who suffers from a medical condition and can’t help doing what he does. I like the way his mom puts it-- That he’s one of God’s own special people. I mean, you can tell that she means that sincerely, not in the derogatory sense of “special”, but that she also doesn’t really have a clue what to do with him. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-are-the-character-on-the-big-bang-theory-suppose-to-be/525747/75 "2012-01-31T23:37:35Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I like the way his mom puts it-- That he’s one of God’s own special people. I mean, you can tell that she means that sincerely, not in the derogatory sense of “special”, but that she also doesn’t really have a clue what to do with him. she had him checked out by a shrink. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-are-the-character-on-the-big-bang-theory-suppose-to-be/525747/76 "2012-02-01T00:45:33Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > We don’t know much about Leonard’s financial situation, but Sheldon is definitely living below his means. There was a plot involving him giving a loan to Penny, and it was made clear that Sheldon has money but doesn’t really care about money. It would certainly fit his character to eschew a more expensive apartment when his current dwelling is perfectly adequate for his needs. > > And as someone else mentioned, they probably room together more for social than economic reasons. Also there may be an element here of subverting the common sitcom trope of people living in a disproportionately high style, plus as a prior post mentioned, the writers probably use it as a way to telegraph “nerdy environment”. Which as you mention plays well together with the type of character that would feel no rational need to go all GQ/AD on his home environment. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-are-the-character-on-the-big-bang-theory-suppose-to-be/525747/77 "2012-02-01T20:29:20Z")
The economic situation of Sheldon and Leonard is a mess. Sheldon has repeatedly said that if he could afford to live on his own (and drive) he wouldn’t need Leonard. Yet Sheldon refuses to cash his checks. Which would be more than enough to afford that apartment and other things. And yet Sheldon does pay for his half of the apartment, going out, eating out, buying high tech toys, etc. Where does that money come from? It’s just a case of the writers don’t care and make a joke for the sake of the now. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-are-the-character-on-the-big-bang-theory-suppose-to-be/525747/78 "2012-02-01T21:19:08Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > The economic situation of Sheldon and Leonard is a mess. Sheldon has repeatedly said that if he could afford to live on his own (and drive) he wouldn’t need Leonard. But if you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Sheldon can’t drive, has no desire to drive, and has no desire to take public transportation. So he needs Leonard or he needs to hire a 24/7 car service. That’s the part he can’t afford. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-are-the-character-on-the-big-bang-theory-suppose-to-be/525747/79 "2012-02-01T22:01:02Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > But if you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Sheldon can’t drive, has no desire to drive, and has no desire to take public transportation. So he needs Leonard or he needs to hire a 24/7 car service. That’s the part he can’t afford. He would take public transportation, but they won’t let him use bungee cords to fasten himself in the seat. I agree with Sheldon. If they require seat belts on air planes then they should require them on buses also. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-are-the-character-on-the-big-bang-theory-suppose-to-be/525747/80 "2012-02-01T22:54:49Z")
> [@Meeko](#): > > In a recent episode [This season, IIRC] , in the past two weeks or so, Leonerd comments to Howard: “You are 30 and you live with your Mom.” I remember this too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-are-the-character-on-the-big-bang-theory-suppose-to-be/525747.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-are-the-character-on-the-big-bang-theory-suppose-to-be/525747.md?page=5)