The Real Caltech

The Big Bang Theory has many recurring elements.  One these topics has always been the California Institute of Technology.  This is where Sheldon, Leonard, Raj, and Howard are famed to work.  This university is not only real, but is also one of the World’s premier schools for science, technology, and engineering.  One of their many claims to fame, is that their school has produced 31 Nobel Laureates, among many many other highly proclaimed awards.

I have always known that this university was a major player in many fields, but I never realized how many well-known famous people have been at Caltech.  People such as the physicist Richard Feynman, Theodore von Karman, Charles Richter, and many other people.  Here is more information about the history and impact of Caltech.

  One of the school’s most iconic buildings is the Beckman Institute.  Arnold Beckman is a very famous chemist and philanthropist, who invented the pH meter. 

The Beckman Institute at Caltech

On a final note, what I find to be one of the most awesome things about Caltech is its connection with NASA.  Caltech has managed a Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA since 1958.  Currently, Caltech has 23 spacecraft and 10 instruments employed in active missions. 

All of this put together, it makes a lot of sense that The Big Bang Theory’s characters would work at Caltech.  Sheldon is a physicist striving for a Nobel Prize.  Leonard is an experimental physicist, and Raj is an astrophysicist.  Howard is an engineer who works on projects for NASA.  All of these amazing things are happening in real life at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California.  (Of course it is other people not the fictional characters who do these things!)

 

Sources:

http://www.caltech.edu/content/history-milestones

http://www.caltech.edu/content/awards-honors

ieee.caltech.edu

www.gg.caltech.edu

 

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One Response to The Real Caltech

  1. Elicia Yoffee says:

    I think it is really cool that these connections actually make sense. I never thought about applying what the character’s professions are and where they work in the show to what that would correspond to in real life. Thanks!

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