I’ve always interpreted the physicists in the bunch to be either senior postdocs or staff scientists. They don’t seem to do any teaching, so they would not be assistant professors. Caltech has a lot of staff scientists, though, which is similar in career level to assistant professor.
A physics postdoc at Caltech makes 45k-55k. A staff scientist is a bit higher, maybe 65k+ starting out.
They do live in Pasadena, and I believe Pasadena City Hall can be seen out one of their windows. Their apartment would run about $3000/mo, so sharing is necessary if they want to live in such a nice place in such a prime location. The view out their window implies that they are about 2 miles from campus, or about a 30-minute walk. Incidentally, there is plenty of shopping within this radius (in reply to a post above about Penny driving them places.)
My cite? I’m a particle physicist (postdoc) at Caltech who lives near City Hall in Pasadena. Indeed, if Sheldon were real, I’d see him every day.
Sheldon once said that he lives on [an exact percentage under 50%] of his salary- something like 47.9%. He keeps most of his money in cash (literally in cash). Presumably he is the highest paid since he is the most respected and has had his Ph.D. the longest. Sheldon could not possibly live alone because he cannot drive and is too socially awkward, and Leonard is probably saving some money, plus after Penny moved in you couldn’t blast him out with dynamite.
Howard has only a master’s degree, which would earn him enough to live on his own but not as well as he can staying with mom (at least not as far as disposable income goes). Raj’s job and training has never really been explained in depth.
Sheldon teaches. In an episode in the second season Leonard remarks that the penalty for some infraction would be having to take one of Leonard’s courses.
Penny’s apartment is much smaller than Sheldon & Leonard’s, she works as a waitress where she could get some kind of discount on meals, and she buys groceries. She is obviously living cheaper than any of the guys.
Didn’t they deal a bit with this earlier in the season when Raj lost his job? I thought they mentioned what he was doing and why the project was canceled.
The “class” they’re referring to isn’t a university course, it’s more like a private tutoring session in line with Sheldon’s attempt at teaching Penny physics, only with lectures about how not to annoy Sheldon.
In the recent episode, didn’t Sheldon say he was the “Senior Physicist” at Caltech? I imagine that would pay more than the median. Don’t they also get money from grants as well?
I think the show is excellent. (I don’t get much chance to watch it these days, though, and it isn’t streamed anywhere, last time I looked.)
And, even though the characters are a bit caricatured, I definitely know people who match them fairly well. Actually, if you count everyone I’ve crossed paths with in my schooling and career, I’ve known folks that make the guys in the show seem like regular Joes.
I definitely got the impression that it was a class at the University. Which still doesn’t rule out the possibility that he’s a research professor, but I’m not sure if Sheldon would teach a class unless he were required to.
There’s no recognized position of “Senior Physicist”. He could mean that he has more seniority than his buddies (pretty likely anyway, given how young he earned his degree), or he could have been referring to some specific project that he’s the principle investigator on.
And while CalTech does pay more than most schools, that’s compensated for by the cost of living. I’ve known a few folks who have moved between equivalent positions here and at CalTech, and they’ve all reported that even though CalTech pays twice as much as we do, it’s still more affordable living and working here.
I don’t watch the show because the few times I have I’ve found everyone on it to be an idiot. That having been said my husband is a physicist (so I know what they’re like) for NASA/AMES and makes $100,000+ a year in a really boring job not worthy of a sitcom.
He’s working on the Kepler mission, if anyone’s interested.
But that is TV sitcoms and TV in general. No one in real life gets away with stuff like that.
Jack “Three’s Company” Tripper can’t come within 20 feet of a woman without being sexually harrassed? Ted Baxter keeping his job as an anchorman? Diane Chambers being a psuedo-intellectual, not to mention Carla keeping her job with her mouth?
And you can go on and on. And sometimes they do push it too far.
My favourite show in the world is the old Australian soap opera, Prisoner(Prisoner: Cell Block H). It’s a PRISON but geez, it’s the funnest place to be. I would break every law in the world to get into Wentworth prison, as Judy, Lizzie, Doreen and a whole slew of others did. If you look at Prisoner as realistic, it’s annoying but if you sit back and enjoy the ride, it’s a blast
Indeed, if Sheldon were real, I’d see him every day.