Lately me and some friends have been watching regularly this sitcom called Big Bang theory. Story of two physicists living next to a really pretty normal girl. They also have two other nerdy friends, a horny russian guy and a indian computer geek who cant talk in front of girls. The creators of the show have made the show catered to the masses’ imagination of physicists as socially inept creatures(most of us are actually are) and their unusual reactions to common social situations. Anyway I have posted below some good scenes from the sitcom.
The last one is the theme song in case anyone likes the song by Bare Naked Ladies.
1)We like talking about either string theory or quantum theory:
What distinguishes us from rest of the general population are at least 4 mind grueling courses in quantum mechanics and perhaps one in quantum field theory. (actually I have an added credit of knowing quantum computation and quantum electrodynamics). Anyone who has gone through all these courses will come out with no respect for anything else in the world because these things are so bloody tough. Basically people ask me what “quantum” is all about. The explanation is simple, when you restrict a particle in a tiny confined space, instead of having a range of energy like a particle in free space has , its energy can only attain discrete states or “quantized” states. Similarly energy per photon is discrete and is called a quanta. Anyway since we have spent so much bloody time in learning and mastering quantum theory we like to talk about it. Some theorists push the crazy boundary to go on and dedicate their entire life to string theory, where tons of other dimensions come in.
2) We are bad with women:
I would say only half of its true. You can be bad with women if u choose to not do anything about it. It’s not just physicists but any person working in a predominantly male environment like an offshore oil rig or in the army turns out this way. I know some of the physicists who work even on saturdays and sundays and others who are getting laid thrice a week with three different women because if you are kinda normal and have other skills except physics the physicist thing turns out to be a real chick magnet.
3) We own X-boxes:
I own an X box. I rest my case.
4) We are fussy about tiny details:
Absolutely true. You can’t tell us something and then go away without supplying the proof behind it. This is how our conversations takes place, this is how we explain to our supervisors that some result we are showing him is not dubious. So if we are talking to you, you better supply us with the evidence.
5) We are not very social creatures:
The smarter and smarter you get it gets very difficult for us to engage and enjoy conversations with normal people. Normal people, mediocrity is a boon, because you can find a million people around you just like you and you can have a very enjoyable conversation with them. Unlike us, in the middle of the conversation you wont feel like going off to sleep because you find the conversation or the group really really dumb. So we tend to stay amongst ourselves and be happy.
