Sheldon Cooper

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Sheldon Lee Cooper
Sheldon Cooper.jpg
Jim Parsons as Dr. Sheldon Cooper
First appearance "Pilot"
Portrayed by Jim Parsons
Information
Nickname(s) Shelly, Shelly Bean (by his family)
Moon Pie (by his grandmother A.K.A. Meemaw)
Smelly Shelly, Dr. Dumbass (mockingly)
Aliases Sheldor the Conqueror (Age of Conan)
Sheldor of Azeroth (World of Warcraft)
Occupation Theoretical physicist
Title Doctor
Family Mary Cooper (mother)
George Cooper, Sr. (father, deceased)
Missy Cooper (twin sister)
George Cooper, Jr. (older brother)
Relatives "Meemaw" (grandmother)
Edward "Stumpy" (uncle)
Carl (uncle, deceased)
Unnamed grandfather (deceased)
Religion Irreligious (raised Christian)
Nationality American

Sheldon Lee Cooper,[1]B.S., M.S., M.A., Ph.D., Sc.D.[2] (born 1980) is a fictional character on the CBS television series The Big Bang Theory, portrayed by actor Jim Parsons. Parsons has won two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe for his role.

Sheldon is a Caltech theoretical physicist who shares an apartment with his colleague and best friend, Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki). They live across the hallway from a highly sociable waitress named Penny (Kaley Cuoco), with whom Sheldon clashes due to her "free-loading" and un-organized lifestyle, even though he identifies her as one of his friends despite her lack of scientific education. The "free-loading" was referenced in one of Sheldon's Wi-Fi passphrases (pennyisafreeloader). Sheldon exhibits a strict adherence to routine, a total lack of social skills, a tenuous understanding of irony, sarcasm, and humor, and a general lack of humility or empathy. He is vocal about his own superior intellect compared to those around him. These characteristics provide the bulk of his character's humor and the center of some. He has been described as the show's breakout character.[3][4][5][6] Reviewers and fans have speculated that Sheldon's personality traits are consistent with a diagnosis of Asperger syndrome and/or obsessive–compulsive disorder and asexuality;[5][7] although this has been repeatedly denied by the co-creator Bill Prady.[8]

Beginning with the season five episode "The Flaming Spittoon Acquisition", Sheldon began dating Amy Farrah Fowler in a platonic relationship.

Creation and casting

The character of Sheldon Cooper was inspired by a computer programmer whom series co-creator Bill Prady knew.[9] He is named in honor of actor/producer Sheldon Leonard,[10] and Nobel Prize Laureate Leon Cooper.[11]Chuck Lorre originally intended Johnny Galecki to play the role, but Galecki thought he would be "better suited" for the character of Leonard.[12] Lorre said that when Jim Parsons auditioned for the role, he was "so startlingly good", that Lorre "asked him back to make sure he hadn't gotten lucky", making Jim Parsons re-audition.[13]

Characterization

Early life

Originally from Galveston, Texas,[14] he was raised by his father (George Cooper, Sr.) and his mother (Mary Cooper) along with an older brother (George Cooper, Jr.) and a twin sister (Missy Cooper). His mother is a devout Evangelical Christian and she raised Sheldon according to her beliefs, for example enrolling him in a Christian youth bowling league and teaching him how to pray.[15] He was taunted and bullied by the neighborhood children and his classmates, because, he claims, they were threatened by his intelligence. When he was five, a kid named Billy Sparks shoved a Mexican Peso up his nose, which has not yet been removed. (It takes Sheldon 45 minutes to get through airport security because of it.)[16] Sheldon was a child prodigy,[17] as evidenced by his many extraordinary accomplishments while still a child: he built a poorly-working CAT scanner that incinerated his sister's guinea pig, called Snowballa[›][14] a so-called "Sonic Death Ray",[16] and an armed robot constructed using integrated circuits made from materials cooked in his sister's Easy Bake Oven, which he modified, and which burnt her eyebrows off.[18] Sheldon entered the University of Texas at Austin, at the age of eleven, right after completing the fifth grade.[19][20] When Sheldon was twelve years old, he wanted a titanium centrifuge to separate radioactive isotopes, but was instead given a motorized dirtbike, which he had no desire for.[21] Around this time, he dabbled in lasers (eventually getting him sent to boarding school).[22] According to his mother, he also tried to build a nuclear reactor at the age of thirteen in order to provide free electricity for his town; however, this was halted after a government agent informed him that it was illegal to store yellowcake uranium (which he wanted to buy on the Internet) in a shed.[16] At age fourteen, he graduated from college summa cum laude, began doctoral work, and was the youngest person at the time to receive the Stevenson Award when he was "14 and a half".[23] Sheldon worked as a visiting professor at Heidelberg University in Germany at age fifteen,[24] and received his first Ph.D. at sixteen years old,[25] working on twistor theory.[26] He then spent four years on his second dissertation, and at the beginning of the series had held his current job for three-and-a-half years.[16]

Personality

Sheldon is usually characterized as extremely intelligent, socially awkward and rigidly logical. His very high IQ often seems to have created a superiority complex, but he also possesses childlike qualities, of which he seems unaware, such as extreme stubbornness.

The first four episodes of The Big Bang Theory portray Sheldon somewhat inconsistently with his later characterization. He is seen trying to impress Penny, knocking at doors in a "normal" way, participating in a salsa class, and attempting to donate to a sperm bank (though he eventually refuses because he feels there is no guarantee his sperm will produce high-IQ offspring).[27] According to Prady, the character "began to evolve after episode five or so and became his own thing".[7] According to Penny, Sheldon is a "typical Taurus".

Aside from his idiosyncrasies, Sheldon is logical. He possesses an eidetic memory and an IQ of 187,[28] although he claims his IQ cannot be accurately measured by normal tests.[29] He has claimed to have a Master's Degree and two doctoral degrees in early episodes.[22][30] However, by the episode "The Love Car Displacement", his list of qualifications had increased.[2] Sheldon has extensive general knowledge, as shown by his comments regarding various details of anecdotal knowledge (for instance, the introduction of the fork into Thailand).[31]

Despite his intelligence, Sheldon's eccentricities, direct remarks, and demanding nature put him at odds with his own friends and especially Penny. Emotionally immature, he is often baffled by common social interactions. He fails to understand the simplest sarcastic jokes made by Leonard,[22] and also regards Penny's sadness over a breakup with blatant confusion.[27] However, over time his understanding of sarcasm has evolved[32] and he successfully employs it in the third season. Sheldon occasionally uses slang (in a very unnatural fashion), and follows jokes with his catchphrase "Bazinga!" ("Bazinga!" is now officially trademarked by Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.)[33] He mentioned that he keeps a record of his daily social interactions.[34] He is not entirely sure how to hug someone, and he avoids human physical contact.

Sheldon is a difficult person to work with. His extreme superiority complex has gotten him fired from a job,[16] and even Leonard is surprised when Sheldon implies that Isaac Newton is intellectually inferior to him.[35] Once, on an Arctic expedition, Sheldon's friends tamper with his experiment in order to make him more pleasant, having grown so desperate with him that they considered killing him. Sheldon also generally displays apathy to the world around him; in "The Toast Derivation", Leonard notes that Sheldon criticized Bill Gates for focusing on his charity work rather than Windows Vista, a remark that earned him a punch in the face from Gates. Another flaw that Sheldon exhibits is his insistence on explaining all obscure things brought up in conversation in an attempt to showcase his intelligence. When a point in the conversation comes up where the origin of something is questioned, the person asking (usually Penny) is cut off by the rest of the group that knows what's coming, but never soon enough for Sheldon to not launch into a lengthy lecture about his expertise on the subject.

Although he does not seem to realize it,[36] Sheldon has a childlike need to get his way, even in matters as trivial as the name of the Caltech Physics Bowl team (Army Ants). He is not above using roundabout ways to do so, such as when Penny asks him to request a mixed cocktail instead of the diet soda he wants, so instead he asks for a "virgin diet Cuba Libre", or when, after several failed attempts at doing so, finally blackmails Leonard and Priya into Leonard's signing of the roommate agreement, threatening to inform Priya's parents in India about her relationship with the "whiter-than-white Leonard Hofstadter". He needs his mother (or Penny) to care for him when he is feeling unwell, which involves singing "Soft Kitty" b[›] and rubbing Vicks VapoRub on his chest. Sheldon crinkles his lips with frustration in certain difficult situations, like when he is interrupted, when he has to keep a secret, or when he hears arguing.[25][37][38] Sheldon relies on his friends for transportation, as his attempts to progress from learner's permit to driver's license have been disastrous.[26] He does immediately accede to his mother's wishes, despite openly arguing with her.[39]

Like his friends, Sheldon is scientifically inclined, and is fond of any comic books, costumes, roleplaying games, video games, customizable card games, action figures, fantasy, and science fiction, specifically Battlestar Galactica, Doctor Who, Stargate, Star Trek, Star Wars, and Firefly. He strongly dislikes Babylon 5.[40] Sheldon is particularly fond of the Star Trek franchise and considers it analogous to religion, as evidenced during a conversation with Amy Farrah Fowler where he "turn[s] to a force greater than [himself]", and answers "Star Trek" after Amy guesses "religion".[41] He has claimed to be an honorary graduate of Starfleet Academy,[42] and is an avid fan of science officer Spock, although he doesn't like the Zachary Quinto version. However, Leonard Nimoy, as well as Carl Sagan and Stan Lee have applied for restraining orders against Sheldon.[40][43][44] He once idolized fictional prodigy Wesley Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation, but Wil Wheaton's surprise cancellation of an appearance at a Jackson, Mississippi Star Trek convention in 1995 soured him to both the character and actor. Other favorite characters of his are Green Lantern, Batman[25][45][46] and The Flash.[45][47][48] Sheldon often wears vintage T-shirts adorned with superhero logos. Sheldon is tall and thin (setting him apart from his shorter colleagues), with Penny (and later Leonard) saying he looks like a giant praying mantis, and Raj likening the robotic C-3PO of Star Wars as "a shiny Sheldon".

Sheldon enjoys playing Halo every Wednesday[49][45] and paintball on weekends with his friends.[45] Unlike Leonard, Sheldon embraces his genius fully and is not ashamed of admitting his particularly eccentric interests (such as Klingon Boggle).[27][39] He can also play the piano[50] and theremin,[51] and seems to be a very good Tuvan throat singer, but would be better if not for a section in his roommate agreement with Leonard denying him time to practice.

Sheldon has, at times, demonstrated a much softer side to himself, such as the time that he loaned Penny money without regard for when he might be repaid. This was described by Leonard as "one of the few idiosyncrasies that doesn't make you want to, you know, kill him".[34] When Penny gave Sheldon a Christmas present, he became extremely anxious over how to reciprocate. He purchased multiple gift baskets of bath items (in order to choose one which matched the value of her gift), only to find that she got him a napkin autographed by Leonard Nimoy (which he had also wiped his mouth with, and therefore had his DNA on it). This prompted him to give her all the baskets and a hug (the first time he demonstrated any physical intimacy).[44] Sheldon sees himself as a protagonist and hero,[52] and Penny appeals to his admiration of heroic qualities when Howard's mother is hospitalized.[53] He has also comforted Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler with cuddling when she is distraught. Sheldon has also shown a fondness for and kindness to animals as seen in "The Shiny Trinket Maneuver", when he speaks of regular trips with Amy to see koalas at the zoo, and in "The Ornithophobia Diffusion", when he overcomes his fear of birds and becomes attached to a friendly blue jay.

Sheldon's attitudes on finances seem to be mixed. He once remarked that he would prefer to live alone, but could not afford the rent.[49] However, he is also shown to have thousands of dollars hidden around the house (as his expenses only amount to 46.9% of his after-tax income) or in uncashed checks which he claims is money he does not need, as the things he wants to buy have not been invented yet.[34] He is agreeable to lending money. Sheldon wants more funding at work and fails to understand why his colleagues are not let go so that more of the school's grant money can be given to him. Sheldon spends money on personal conveniences for his own office, but he refuses to spend money on a desk for Raj. Sheldon distrusts banks, believing that "When the robots rise up, ATMs will lead the charge."[54]

In contrast to his profoundly religious mother and devout Christian upbringing, Sheldon has no interest in religion. He tends to ignore or express dislike for religious celebrations such as Christmas, and hastens to bring up the pagan origins to each festival. Nevertheless, he has an agreement with his mother to attend church once a year, and his upbringing leads him to exclaim "Thank you, Jesus!" upon scoring a strike in bowling.

Sheldon also appears to have problems understanding societal laws at times. He is shown to drop objects out his window into traffic without regard, in addition to breaking into buildings. He has expertise with picking locks and disarming alarm systems.[55] Furthermore, the Department of Homeland Security notifies his mother when he acts contrary to federal law. As he states later, "Apparently you can't hack into a top secret government supercomputer and then try to buy uranium without the Department of Homeland Security tattling to your mother."[56]

With few exceptions, Sheldon refuses all drugs, including alcohol and caffeine, as a promise to his mother. He does not tolerate them well; wine, a small amount of coffee [57] and Valium have all affected Sheldon unpredictably.[46] He does, however, have a fondness for soda, especially Mountain Dew, and once described his mother as having "a mild Dr. Pepper addiction".

Idiosyncrasies

Sheldon exhibits a strict adherence to routine, with specific activities (like eating certain foods) on specific days of the week. He knocks on the door three times in three sets while repeating the name of the person he is seeking ("[knock knock knock] Penny! [knock knock knock] Penny! [knock knock knock] Penny!" being the most common), even finishing the series of knocks after the door is answered. He also makes loud noises (or musical notes with a xylophone) in every theater before a movie, attempting to locate the "acoustic sweet spot". However, he can adapt to seats with sub-optimal conditions, such as seat cushion densities and light dispersion, provided he has the opportunity to test them.[58]

Sheldon must sit on the left cushion of the couch in his apartment, which he considers his "single point of consistency in an ever-changing world"[59] and "the singular location in space around which revolves my entire universe", exceeding his love for his mother.[60] Even when Sheldon comes over to visit Penny in one episode, Sheldon goes about the room sitting in random chairs to determine his optimal seat at Penny's.

Sheldon is constantly worried about germs and about others touching his food. He washes his hands as often as he can, and he showers twice daily.[49] He is extremely worried about becoming sick.[24] He once requested a full medical examination from Leonard's girlfriend, Dr. Stephanie Barnett, to discover the cause of a high-pitched noise in his head.[61] When Howard's mother is sent to the hospital, Sheldon refuses to go due to exposure to pathogens and germs, until Penny confronts him. Due to his attempt to avoid being in close quarters with a sick person being wheeled down the hallway on a gurney, he accidentally wanders into a biohazard room at the hospital and endures a two-week quarantine.[53]

When Sheldon is complicit in a lie, he exhausts all efforts to make it believable, but he is usually unsuccessful.[62] Similarly, he cannot be entrusted with a secret because he develops nervous tics.[46] However, it is easier for him to lie if he has prior knowledge of the deception or an "ironclad alibi" thought out in advance, as opposed to it being "impromptu dishonesty".[63][64]

While perfectly comfortable speaking to small groups, Sheldon cannot speak to crowds deemed large enough to trample him (36 adults or 70 children) without having a panic attack.[20] In general, he obsesses over safety.[65]

Sheldon holds grudges for a long time. In the season 5 episode "The Russian Rocket Reaction", he explains to Amy Farrah Fowler that he has a list of 61 mortal enemies that he began when he was nine in 1989. He says that Penny has only recently been deleted from the list, even after knowing her for five years.[66] He removes Wil Wheaton from the list after Wheaton presents him with his last, mint condition, signed Wesley Crusher action figure. However, he immediately adds Brent Spiner, who, without realizing its importance, opens it.[67]

In response to criticism from his friends that he is crazy or insane, Sheldon often retorts, "I'm not crazy/insane! My mother had me tested."[59][68]

Career

Sheldon is a senior theoretical particle physicist who conducts string theory research at Caltech.[55] Throughout the course of the show, Sheldon has switched disciplines from bosonic string theory to heterotic string theory, reconciled the black hole information paradox using a string network condensate approach[45] and worked on time-dependent backgrounds in string theory, specifically quantum field theory, in D-dimensional de Sitter space.[53] With Rajesh, he has worked on the string theory implications of gamma rays from dark matter annihilations and considered a method for optimizing a 500 GeV particle detector to this end.[69]

Sheldon and Leonard jointly wrote a paper on supersolids to be presented at an Institute for Experimental Physics topical conference on Bose-Einstein condensates.[35] He has also lectured on topological insulators.[70]

In "The Wiggly Finger Catalyst" and "The Flaming Spittoon Acquisition" Sheldon is shown to be a qualified Notary Public.

Asperger syndrome

Several viewers have asserted that Sheldon's behavior is consistent with Asperger syndrome.[5][7][71][72] One person stated that "the Asperger’s properties were smartly camouflaged with exaggerated geek-ness and eccentricity."[73]

The writers have stated that they did not use Asperger syndrome as a basis for the character, but instead thought of his actions as "Sheldony".[71] Series co-creator Bill Prady stated: "We write the character as the character. A lot of people see various things in him and make the connections. Our feeling is that Sheldon's mother never got a diagnosis, so we don't have one".[7] Prady also allegedly told Alan Sepinwell of the New Jersey Star-Ledger that "calling it Asperger's creates too much of a burden to get the details right."[74]

In an interview, Jim Parsons noted the writers' response, but added that, in his opinion, Sheldon "couldn't display more traits" of Asperger's.[75][71] Parsons, who plays Sheldon, has read John Elder Robison's memoir Look Me in the Eye about his life with Asperger syndrome, and said that: "A majority of what I read in that book touched on aspects of Sheldon". He also stated that "the way [Sheldon's] brain works, it's so focused on the intellectual topics at hand that thinking he's autistic is an easy leap for people watching the show to make".[76]

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

Other viewers believe Sheldon's behavior stems from Obsessive–compulsive disorder or an OCD and Asperger's overlap.[5][77] In "The Infestation Hypothesis", Amy observes Sheldon's obsessive knocking saying, "You are aware that your ritualistic knocking behavior is symptomatic of obsessive compulsive disorder?" to which Sheldon responded "Is not. Is not, is not." In addition, when Penny had opened the door before Sheldon had finished knocking and chased him with an 'infested chair cushion', he still had to finish knocking.[improper synthesis?][78] In "The Pancake Batter Anomaly", Sheldon is seen displaying symptoms of Mysophobia and germaphobia, which are often found in people who have OCD. He is afraid of being contaminated with illness, and sprays the air with Lysol in an attempt to protect himself from Penny, whom he deems a "carrier".

Schizoid personality disorder

"Schizoid personality disorder (SPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a lack of interest in social relationships, a tendency towards a solitary lifestyle, secretiveness, emotional coldness, and apathy. Affected individuals may also demonstrate a simultaneous rich, elaborate, and exclusively internal fantasy world[1], although this is often more suggestive of schizotypal personality disorder." Some viewers consider this the underlying cause for Sheldon Cooper's behaviour. Even though subject reveals OCD type behaviour, this might be due to his extremely dissociative state with his own body.

Relationships

Family

Sheldon contrasts strongly with his family, who are neither scientists nor intellectuals. His father George died before the start of the series, and is said to have had characteristics of a "redneck" and a stereotypical Texan, including a fondness for football, skeet shooting, and heavy drinking.[16][38] His death occurred close enough to the start of the series that Sheldon's sister, Missy, visits him to bring him paperwork regarding their father's estate.[18] Sheldon recalls that his father would force him to watch football, despite his lack of interest for the sport, and would take him outside to show him how to "shoot close enough to a raccoon that it craps itself".[79]

Sheldon's mother, Mary, is a devout Christian, whose beliefs are often at odds with Sheldon's own. Despite this, his upbringing influenced him enough that he shouts "Thank you, Jesus!" after bowling a strike, before hastily adding, "As my mother would say". Mary is characterized as a doting mother and is readily available when Sheldon needs her. Sheldon expresses his love for his mother more than once (though he claims to have stronger feelings for the spot on his couch), and she is the only person to whom he capitulates. Leonard calls her Sheldon's "Kryptonite"[39]. After Sheldon and Penny get into a bitter, days-long war, Leonard gives Mary's phone number to Penny. After Mary chastises Sheldon, he immediately apologizes to Penny[39]. On another occasion, when Sheldon has a falling out with Amy Farrah Fowler and begins hoarding cats, Leonard himself calls Mary, who meets with both Amy and Sheldon and reports that she is glad they broke up, because she would have forced them to stop seeing each other anyway. Sheldon, not realizing his mother is using reverse psychology, proposes that they "set aside their differences"[80]. Nevertheless, Sheldon remains very much attached to his mother, though he does not display it in front of her. When he decided to make up his own skit about Spock, and took acting lessons from Penny, he got so absorbed in his own acting that he cried about leaving his mother. Not sure how to react, Penny immediately called Sheldon's mother, saying "I think I broke your son!"

Sheldon has a fraternal twin sister, Missy, who is a tall, attractive brunette. Leonard, Howard, and Raj all tried to date her. Upon Sheldon realizing that within Missy's eggs lay the potential for another "superior mutation" like himself, he declares his friends unsuitable to be with his sister, an action that Missy resents. Missy also kicks Sheldon in the testicles (revealed in "The Pork Chop Indeterminacy").[18] Sheldon also has a yet-unseen older brother, George Jr.[47] Both Missy and George Jr. beat Sheldon up during their childhoods, and their mother describes them to be "dumb as soup".[16] Despite this, it appears that Missy admires her brother, mentioning that she regularly refers to him as a "rocket scientist" and thereby unwittingly offending Sheldon, who considers rocket science to be beneath him.

Sheldon is very fond of his grandmother, whom he calls "Me-maw", who in turn calls him "Moon Pie", "Because I'm nummy nummy and she could eat me all up".[81]

Friends

At the outset of the show, Sheldon's closest friends are Leonard Hofstadter, Howard Wolowitz and Rajesh Koothrapali. Penny, the neighbor across the hall, soon becomes another close friend. Sheldon is best friends with Leonard, as they live together and have tolerated each other ever since Sheldon put out an ad for a roommate which included a list of criteria. Despite Sheldon's occasional remarks to the contrary, he appreciates Leonard and assures Leonard that he will not die alone. Prady stated that "the fact that, despite everything, Leonard considers Sheldon his best friend reminds us of Sheldon's essential humanity."[82]

Sheldon likes his friend Raj because of the ethnic diversity he brings and their shared interests of monkeys and trains.[37] He lends help to Koothrappali by giving him a job under his supervision, and considers him a good friend.[69] In "The Bozeman Reaction", however, Sheldon asserts that Leonard, Penny and Raj are three close friends, while Howard is a treasured acquaintance.Sheldon can only handle having a limited number of friends in his "landing party" at a time. Sheldon once tried to cut off Raj from his circle of friends to make room for Barry Kripke, simply because Raj missed one question on Sheldon's friendship questionnaire. Sheldon later shows flexibility in the amount of friends he can handle throughout season 4 and 5 when he accepts Bernadette and Amy as part of their social group.

Sheldon often makes fun of Howard for not having a doctoral degree and for being an engineer, referring to engineers as "noble semi-skilled laborers" and "the Oompa-Loompas of science",[23] and calling engineering "the slow younger brother of physics".[83] In "The Bozeman Reaction", he referred to Howard as "a treasured acquaintance" instead of a friend like the others.[84] He also refers to him as "the funny one" in their group. Howard is sometimes indifferent and sometimes visibly wounded when Sheldon is dismissive of him. Despite their bickering, Sheldon has a little respect for Howard, stating in "The Hawking Excitation," when Howard accuses Sheldon of saying Howard is not a good engineer, "I have never said you're bad at what you do. Only that what you do isn't worth doing." [85]

Despite Penny not being a scientist nor sharing many of the group's interests (Parsons described the characters of Sheldon and Penny as "polar opposites"[86]), and having constant fights with Sheldon in the early episodes, they became close friends, due to some time alone with each other, such as when Penny cares for Sheldon during illness[24] or when Penny takes him in as he is locked out of his apartment while his friends are in Las Vegas.[87] Sheldon returns the favor as he cares for Penny when she dislocates her shoulder. In all of these instances, the storyline ends with one of them singing "Soft Kitty", a song Sheldon's mother sang to him when he was sick.[24] On the one hand, Sheldon and Penny spend a lot of time getting on each other's nerves, but they also efficiently team up (for example, to plan Leonard's birthday or to develop Penny's "Penny Blossoms" business). They end up spending a lot of time together as two close friends, help each other and give each other advice. Sheldon even goes to great lengths to continue to see Penny after her breakup with Leonard.

Some fans support a romantic relationship between Sheldon and Penny.[88][89] Lorre, however, is opposed to this, saying: "We've stumbled into creating a character who has chosen a lifestyle for himself that is unique. And I don't see any reason to modify it."[90] WanDerVerff was also critical of the idea writing: "TV teaches us that any time a man and a woman are in some sort of relationship with any sort of spark to it, that man and that woman will inevitably begin sleeping together, and I think that's what the Sheldon/Penny shippers are responding to, but The Big Bang Theory is showing us that that doesn't necessary [sic] have to be the case".[91] Kaley Cuoco said that if they dated, "Penny would kill Sheldon".[92] In The Infestation Hypothesis, Sheldon and Penny acknowledge they are like an old married couple.

In the Season 3 finale, Raj blackmails Sheldon into meeting a woman that he and Howard discovered on a dating website. Initially incredulous, Sheldon is surprised to learn that the woman (Amy Farrah Fowler, played by Mayim Bialik) is largely a female version of himself, to the horror of Howard and Raj. Amy agreed with her mother to go on a date once a year (in exchange for her mother not bringing up the issue, plus occasional use of a George Foreman Grill). Over the course of a few lines, the two realize they have a connection.[93] The relationship continues in the fourth season. In the first episode of the fourth season, Sheldon reveals that they have been in contact via numerous electronic means over the summer and that they plan to have a child together without marrying and without sexual intercourse. This plan is thwarted by Penny, who threatens to tell Sheldon's devout Christian mother of his plans to have a child that will be born to unwed parents. Despite their compatibility and empathy toward each other, Sheldon often points out that they are not in a romantic relationship. Despite Sheldon's assessment that Amy is not the free spirit he is,[48] he delights in how she has gotten him experimenting in the social sciences.[94] The two enjoy intellectual games they create, and Amy and Sheldon openly express the same type of intellectual superiority.[80] For instance, when Sheldon does not understand how Amy, a neurobiologist, could ridicule Bernadette Rostenkowski, a microbiologist, for her studies,[65] Amy remarks, "I study the brain, the organ responsible for Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Bernadette studies yeast, the organism responsible for Michelob Light." The two broke up after an argument regarding whether theoretical physics or neurobiology is the superior academic discipline, but quickly made up after Sheldon's mother intervened.[80] Amy has sometimes shown romantic interest in Sheldon.[42][95] After Sheldon inadvertently infers that Leonard and Amy may have had sex after a wedding reception that both attended, he has an unexpectedly violent reaction, karate-chopping Leonard's neck with his left hand, while telling Leonard "She's not for you... not for you!"[96]

Sheldon has formed a strong bond with Leonard's mother, Dr. Beverly Hofstadter (Christine Baranski), connecting on a level that Sheldon has been unable to find with anyone else.[97] After their initial meeting, they have kept in touch via e-mail, sharing information and research papers. When she visits to inform Leonard that she is divorcing his father, Penny gets her drunk. She kisses Sheldon in a fit of passion, but rejects seeking further physical intimacy with him.[98]

Sheldon has claimed to not like Leonard's girlfriends, with the exception of Dr. Stephanie Barnett (Sara Rue).[14] He clashes with Priya Koothrappali (Aarti Mann), Raj's sister and Leonard's girlfriend, when she employs her Cambridge University law education to nullify his roommate agreement with Leonard. After seeking advice from Amy, Sheldon re-drafts the agreement and blackmails Priya by threatening to tell her parents about her relationship with a non-Indian if Leonard did not sign the revised document.[42] Yet, he has had the most conflicts with Penny.

Sheldon shows little interest in forming romantic or social relationships outside of his current circle of friends. However, Sheldon has managed to attract the romantic interests of at least three women (including Leonard's mother) and one man, although Sheldon is oblivious on three of those occasions. Penny once asks what Sheldon's "deal" is, alluding to his sexual orientation. Leonard responds that "we've been operating under the assumption that he has no deal", with Howard suggesting that Sheldon might reproduce by mitosis.[45] Series co-creator Chuck Lorre said: "Part of what's wonderful and unique about [Sheldon] is he has chosen not to play in the relationship game either way -- heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, any sexuality".[90]

Critics and viewers have postulated that Sheldon may be asexual or aromantic, while others dispute this assertion. Noel Murray of The A.V. Club stated that "giving Sheldon a girlfriend, boyfriend or even a "friend with benefits" would be [...] far outside the scope of the character".[99] Kona Gallagher of TV Squad wrote that "the idea of Sheldon with a lady is a jarring one".[100] In contrast, Jon Weisman of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "the right woman could draw [Sheldon] out of his shell".[88] In an interview, Parsons said that he thinks that his character eventually will have a romantic relationship.[89]

More recently, in Season 5, Sheldon shows that he isn't okay with Leonard getting together with Amy when he mistakenly thinks that they had sex. While Amy considers Sheldon to be something like a boyfriend, she dislikes some of his idiosyncrasies and doesn't seem to be quite as asexual as he is. In the season 5 episode The Flaming Spittoon Acquisition, Sheldon and Amy officially began dating after Amy and Stuart begin dating and Sheldon becomes jealous. However, he did not admit to being jealous. Sheldon stated he would like their interactions to stay the same, even though they are now in a relationship. With some advice from Penny, he does try and smooth over any misunderstandings he has with Amy, like buying her a tiara after he doesn't show enough enthusiasm after she gets a significant paper published.

Towards the end of season five, Amy begins a campaign to give Sheldon more attention to increase his feelings for her by embracing his interests which Sheldon has a position reaction to and that surprises him. As they watch Howard launched into space, in the season five finale, The Countdown Reflection, Amy is surprised as Sheldon takes her hand for emotional support.

Enemies

Sheldon has rivalries with two of his co-workers: Barry Kripke and Leslie Winkle.[101] Barry is a plasma physicist with a case of rhotacism. He pitted his robot, the Kripke Krippler (or, as he called it, the "Kwipke Kwippwer"), against the guys' robot, M.O.N.T.E., in an unofficial robot fight.[83] Kripke continued his antagonism towards Sheldon when he pulled a prank on Sheldon when the latter was a guest on NPR's Science Friday.[102] However, Sheldon has attempted to befriend him on only two occasions, to gain access to an open science grid computer and as a prospective member in a new group of friends.[103] Leslie is a sometime lover of Leonard, and an optical physicist. Leslie and Sheldon mutually consider themselves to be intellectually superior to the other; however, Leslie is wittier, generally besting Sheldon in their repartee.[101] She often calls him a "dumbass." In Seasons 1 and 2, Sheldon considers her his "arch enemy".[104]

However, the person Sheldon considers to be his "mortal enemy" is Wil Wheaton. Sheldon's hatred of Wheaton stems from Wheaton's cancelling an appearance at a science fiction convention in Jackson, Mississippi that Sheldon had gone to some lengths to attend years previously. In Season 3, the two encounter each other at a customizable card game tournament, and Sheldon's antipathy towards Wheaton is heightened when Wheaton uses gamesmanship to defeat him in the tournament. He tells Sheldon that he cancelled the appearance because his grandmother had died and he went to her funeral, causing Sheldon to throw the game out of sympathy, only to find out the story was a ruse.[17] Sheldon's animosity towards Wheaton is further reinforced during a bowling face-off between Sheldon's team and Stuart's team, on which Wheaton is substituting for another player. Again resorting to gamesmanship, Wheaton senses relationship troubles between Leonard and Penny (two of Sheldon's bowlers) and manipulates Penny into dumping Leonard, causing her to leave the bowling alley in tears. Sheldon's team is thus deprived of its best bowler, and they eventually lose the match.[105] In Season 4, Sheldon spites Wheaton by stealing a print of Raiders of the Lost Ark with 21 seconds of unseen footage after Wheaton jumps ahead of him, Leonard, Howard, and Raj in line at the screening.[106] However, Wheaton and Sheldon make up as Wheaton gives Sheldon his last mint copy of his action figure, causing them to be friends. After Wheaton gives Sheldon a mint condition, unopened and signed Wesley Crusher figure, Brent Spiner grabs it and opens it, causing Sheldon to add Spiner to his "mortal enemies list", maintaining the number of names at 62.[66][67]

Reception

Jim Parsons' portrayal of Sheldon has received outstanding reception from critics, and is often cited as the main reason for the program's success.[107][108][109] James Chamberlin of IGN wrote: "It's hard to imagine what The Big Bang Theory would be if it weren't for Jim Parsons' great portrayal of Sheldon Cooper."[110] Matt Roush of TV Guide stated that "there's a spark of divine inspiration in Jim Parsons' uproarious Sheldon Cooper".[111] Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly wrote that "Parsons is doing something rare on network TV: making intellectualism admirable, even heroic".[6]

On July 16, 2009, Jim Parsons was nominated for a Primetime Emmy award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.[112] He was nominated again for the same award on July 8, 2010, and eventually won the award on August 29, 2010.[113] On August 1, 2009, he won the Television Critics Association award for Individual Achievement in Comedy, with the show itself winning the award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy.[114] He was also nominated for a People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Comedy Actor[115] and a Satellite Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy in 2009 and 2010.[116] On January 16, 2011, Parsons won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy, presented by co-star Kaley Cuoco. On June 20, 2011, he won the award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series at the 1st Critics' Choice Television Awards. Most recently, on September 18, 2011, he won his second consecutive Primetime Emmy award.

Notes

^ a: His sister's guinea pig, Snowball, caught fire in Sheldon's homemade CAT scanner, which created a strange phrase in his household, "Not a Snowball's chance in a CAT scanner". Sheldon was hospitalized for radiation burns due to the same incident.
^ b: The entire song consists of the following four lines:
"Soft kitty, warm kitty
Little ball of fur
Happy kitty, sleepy kitty
Purr, purr, purr".
The original version of the song is called Warm Kitty, written by Australian Edith Newlin as a children's nursery song. In the original, the words of the first and third lines of the verse are reversed ("Warm kitty, soft kitty" and "Sleepy kitty, happy kitty").

In "The Adhesive Duck Deficiency", Penny makes Sheldon sing the song to her after her injury. She also suggests singing it "as a round;" this is one of the few times that Sheldon embraces the change, as, though he was perplexed initially, in season 4, Sheldon plays the song as a round with Penny, using his recorder.
^ c: Sheldon has a deep love for trains. Koothrappali has previously stated that he hates trains so that Sheldon wouldn't stay at his apartment, when Penny tells him a secret that he can't tell Leonard. However, Sheldon says, "Don't be silly, you love trains" to which Raj replies, "Yes I do, come on".

References

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