Howard Wolowitz
Encyclopedia
Howard Joel Wolowitz, M.Eng
is a fictional character
on the CBS
television series The Big Bang Theory
, portrayed by actor Simon Helberg
.
Among the main male characters in the show, Howard is distinguished for lacking a doctoral degree
, for still living with his mother, and for believing himself to be a "ladies' man".
Simon Helberg's character is named after a computer programmer
known by the show's co-creator Bill Prady
.
aerospace engineer at Caltech
's Department of Applied Physics
who often hangs out at Leonard Hofstadter
(Johnny Galecki
) and Sheldon Cooper
's (Jim Parsons
) apartment where he is best friends with Rajesh Koothrappali
(Kunal Nayyar
). He was born in 1981 as specified in season one's episode "The Pancake Batter Anomaly".
Howard sports a bowl-style haircut and tends to wear loud, vintage, 1960-era outfits, a V-neck or t-shirt over a turtleneck or dickey which sport a variety of pins, and always has skinny jeans. He is also fond of unusual belt buckle
s, which have included a Nintendo controller, a silver Batman logo
, a 45 RPM record insert, a Klingon
communicator, and a buckle containing the superhero the Flash
. Like his friends, Howard is a big fan of comic books and superheroes. It is also quite clear that his current and preferred personal transportation is via his Vespa
motor scooter.
Besides English
, Howard is fluent in French
, Mandarin
, Russian
, Arabic
, Persian
, sign language
, and the constructed language
Klingon
from the Star Trek
franchise. Although in the show, Howard has been mentioned to speak these languages, the writers have not explored his proficiency much. In the season three episode "The Precious Fragmentation", he also has shown he knows some words in Sindarin
, the fictional Elvish
language that inspired J.R.R. Tolkien to write the Lord of the Rings
novels. The episode "The Wiggly Finger Catalyst" also reveals he knows American Sign Language
.
Howard fancies himself a "ladies' man" and he provides outrageous pick-up line
s whenever there is a female present. Howard describes himself as a romantic, although he usually comes across as overtly sexual and, in the words of Penny, disgusting. However, Penny's animosity toward Howard has mellowed somewhat since Howard began dating Penny's work colleague Bernadette, to whom he is now engaged.
Howard, much like Penny, dislikes many of Sheldon's antics, but he has grown accustomed to them. One time, Penny asked how Sheldon had gotten friends and Howard simply replied "We liked Leonard".
Howard is allergic to peanuts
, and they pose a life-threatening risk to him. He also mentioned having transient idiopathic arrhythmia. Howard is proud of the fact that he has only 3% body fat, which Raj notes makes him look like a human chicken wing.
Although Jewish, Howard is not very serious about his faith and does not keep kosher
. For instance, he eats pork
, and when the price of pork went up at the group's favorite Chinese restaurant, he remarked "it's getting tougher and tougher to be a bad Jew". In another occasion, when Howard tried to date Sheldon's sister, Missy, he said he would kill his rabbi
with a pork chop
if his religion was an impediment, and one of the reasons he was happy to continue dating Bernadette (who is Catholic) was the chance to really annoy his mom. Despite this, Howard has shown some belief in his faith. When he and Raj
posed as goths
to pick up women, he wore fake-tattoo
sleeves
and refused to get real ones. He also apparently attends High Holiday services, as Sheldon once critically noted that he was not available to compete in Halo
during those times.
As of the episode "The Herb Garden Germination", he is engaged to Bernadette when she said yes to his marriage proposal.
, Sheldon
, and Raj
, Howard does not have a Ph.D.
and is sometimes mocked about it, especially by Sheldon. He defends himself by pointing out that he has a master's degree
from MIT
. Because he does not carry a Ph.D., Dr. Gablehauser pointedly refers to him as "mister" while referring to his friends as doctors. Because Howard does not have a Ph.D., Sheldon often says that he is the least smart of the four "nerd" characters, as shown in "The Bus Pants Utilization", where the guys develop an iPhone app and Sheldon refers to them as "three geniuses and their friend Howard".
Howard is usually seen working on equipment to be used in NASA
missions and the International Space Station
, though many times he is careless about it.
In the first episode, Howard mentioned working on the design of a satellite that orbits a moon of Jupiter
taking high-resolution photos.
Having worked on the Mars rover
project, he invited his date, Dr. Stephanie Barnett, to drive it at a secret facility. Instead, the rover
became stuck in a Martian ditch
and he spent the rest of the night with Sheldon
and Raj
trying to undo the damage. When this proved unsuccessful, he decided to erase the hard drives of the facility to cover up his meddling, only to later find out that the rover had discovered the first clear signs of life on mars. When he made it onto a new team for the Defense Department laser-equipped surveillance satellite, Howard was not granted security clearance after Sheldon revealed the rover incident to an investigating FBI agent.
On another occasion, Howard worked on a zero-gravity human-waste disposal system
, essentially a "space toilet
", that was deployed in the International Space Station
. He later realized the equipment had a structural weakness and again sought the help of his friends to correct it. The solution proved unsuccessful and an incident on the Space Station ensued (Raj referred to this as the "zero-gravity human-waste distribution system").
Being the engineer
among his physicist
friends, he assumes the role of leader for small hands-on projects. He was the primary force behind "M.O.N.T.E.", a killer robot
designed to enter a robot fighting competition
. The robot was destroyed by Barry Kripke's own robot, the "Kripke Krippler", in an unofficial match before the start of competition.
In the season 4 premiere, Howard developed a robotic arm for the International Space Station
. Realizing how much it felt like an actual arm, he used the arm to masturbate, only to get the arm stuck on his penis. He called Leonard
and Raj
, but neither were willing to get too "hands on" and help free him from the arm's grip. He was afraid to use the computer controlling the arm as it thought it was holding a screwdriver
and would start twisting. Eventually, Leonard and Raj took Howard to the hospital, where the attending nurse went against Howard's fears and turned off the computer, freeing Howard. The episode's tag scene implied that Howard tried to use the arm to masturbate again and ended up in the same predicament.
Howard likely has the most hands-on and mechanical aptitude of the four as well. It appears he has soldering and electrical/wiring abilities as shown when he built the robot fighter M.O.N.T.E.
Mrs. Wolowitz is never seen on-screen
, but her voice is heard when he is at their house or when he talks to her on the phone. She only communicates with Howard by yelling to him in an obnoxious manner, which results in awkward long-distance conversations, with Howard frustratedly yelling back at her. Her nosy nature and her barrage of questions make Howard's life tense at home, which prompts him to call her a "crazy old lady". It is revealed in "The Cohabitation Formulation", however, when Howard briefly moves in with Bernadette, that he likes being "mothered" to some extent. In "The Apology Insufficiency", Sheldon observes that Howard seems to have "an unresolved Oedipal complex
".
In "The Precious Fragmentation", Howard reveals that his father left his family when Howard was 11. His mother bought him an ALF doll to help Howard try to get over it. When Howard finds a similar doll at a garage sale, he starts talking to it as if he were 11 again, asking him to find his dad and bring him home. This causes Penny (who usually avoids Howard and is disgusted by him) to be sympathetic. The trauma of his father's desertion and the lack of a father figure throughout adolescence may be the root of much of Howard's behavior.
One time, he developed a mathematical formula for the likelihood of him having sex
by applying and modifying the Drake equation
to include the "Wolowitz coefficient", which he defined as "neediness times dress size squared". He stated, "I'm a horny engineer,... I never joke about math or sex".
Howard's techniques to approach women are varied, including magic
and card tricks, ventriloquism
, and techniques from the Mystery Method, such as peacocking and negging.
Along with Leonard
and Raj
, Howard also attempted to date Missy, Sheldon's fraternal twin sister. His offer wasn't accepted.
Katee Sackhoff
appeared as herself in "The Vengeance Formulation" where she is fantasized as Howard's dream girl. She appeared again in season 4, in the same role.
Since the beginning of the series, Howard shows interest in Penny
, but the interest was primarily sexual and she always turned him down. After yet another approach by Howard, Penny finally confronted him about how he treats women. This greatly affected Howard and he fell into depression
, missing work and staying home. When Penny went to apologize, Howard told her about his past relationships and Penny showed some sympathy
for him; after her comforting words, Howard tried to kiss
her, but she reacted and punched him in the face. With the situation resolved, Penny believed they had come to an "understanding", but Howard thought he was merely "half-way to pity sex" with her.
Howard engaged in a "friends with benefits
" relationship with Leslie Winkle, which brought him a few benefits beside sex. However, he still became depressed when Leslie dumped him some time later. In order to cheer him up, Leonard
and Raj
took Howard to Las Vegas
and managed to hire a prostitute for him.
When the guys travelled by train to a symposium
in San Francisco, Howard had a chance to talk to Summer Glau
(portraying herself). His clumsy attempts at impressing the actress failed, despite him being in a confined environment with her for multiple hours.
During a camping trip with Leonard
and Raj
, in which they all got stoned by eating cookies laced with drugs (likely marijuana), Howard revealed he lost his virginity
to his second cousin Jeanie after his uncle's funeral, something that prompted them to make fun of him incessantly.
Despite the fact that Howard is undeniably obsessed with women, he is accused of being in a homosexual relationship with Raj
. In the show, this has been pointed out by Dr. Beverly Hofstadter, Leonard's
mother. In her words, they are in an "ersatz
homosexual marriage". Raj and Howard have several arguments during the series, in which Raj repeatedly accuses Howard of leaving him for everybody who's only slightly better looking and otherwise assuming the cliché female role in partnership arguments. However, Raj and Howard's relationship is mostly close. Raj will often whisper comments to Howard when Penny is in the room, which allows him an avenue of communication, given his chronic inability to speak to women.
In recent seasons, he has had a romantic relationship with Bernadette Rostenkowski (Melissa Rauch
). A waitress paying her way through graduate school microbiology studies, Bernadette was introduced to Howard by Penny. At first she and Howard did not get along, as they appeared to have nothing in common. However, when they found out they both had overbearing mothers they immediately felt a connection. They were particularly pleased that it would enrage both Howard's Jewish mom and Bernadette's Catholic mom to find out their kids were dating. They also each noted that they lost their virginity in Toyota vehicles. Subsequently, Howard realized Bernadette represented a real opportunity to develop a lasting relationship and, in an impulsive manner, he proposed to her. Although Bernadette rejected his offer, they remained a couple for a time, but they did later break up. There is often a running gag between Leonard and Howard mocking Raj for being single. In The Plimpton Stimulation, Howard briefly mentioned that he and Bernadette broke up a couple weeks earlier, but did not mention it since he "was waiting for the right time". It was later revealed that the relationship ended because Bernadette caught Howard having cyber sex with "Glacinda the Troll" on World of Warcraft (Glacinda was also revealed later on to have been played by a male member of the university). By the end of the episode, the two discussed their problems and restarted their relationship from the beginning. In the episode, "The Herb Garden Germination", Howard proposed to Bernadette in front of his friends and she accepted, much to Raj's dismay (he had developed feelings for Bernadette). However, during their engagement, Bernadette was awarded her Doctorate degree and revealed that she got a job at a pharmaceutical company that promised a "buttload of money." Although he claimed to have supported her new career, Howard's friends mocked him for not having a Doctorate and made him jealous of Bernadette's job. The situation reached its breaking point when Bernadette and he had an argument after she bought him a Rolex, as he interpreted it as a sign that she would be the main breadwinner. The souring of relations only grew worse when he learned from Raj that, in addition to having slept with Penny, Raj also was writing love poems and fantasizing about Bernadette, which led to Howard not trusting Bernadette and thinking she may cheat on him with Raj.
Season 4 introduced Howard's "latent homosexual tendencies" when George Takei appeared as himself in an imaginary conversation with Bernadette and Katee Sackhoff
over his relationship status with Bernadette. It has also been hinted in prior episodes that such feeling may have stretched towards Raj
as well by Leonard's
mother.
Master of Engineering
A Master of Engineering or Master of Technology or Master of Science in Engineering A Master of Engineering (Magister in Ingeniaria) (abbreviated M.Eng., ME or MEng) or Master of Technology (abbreviated M.Tech. or MTech) or Master of Science in Engineering A Master of Engineering (Magister in...
is a fictional character
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
on the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
television series The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory is an American sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom serve as executive producers on the show, along with Steven Molaro. All three also serve as head writers...
, portrayed by actor Simon Helberg
Simon Helberg
Simon Maxwell Helberg is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Howard Wolowitz in the sitcom The Big Bang Theory. In its fourth season, he also appeared on the sketch comedy series MADtv for five episodes...
.
Among the main male characters in the show, Howard is distinguished for lacking a doctoral degree
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
, for still living with his mother, and for believing himself to be a "ladies' man".
Simon Helberg's character is named after a computer programmer
Programmer
A programmer, computer programmer or coder is someone who writes computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computer programming or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software. One who practices or professes a formal approach to...
known by the show's co-creator Bill Prady
Bill Prady
Bill Prady is a television writer and producer who has worked on American sitcoms and variety programs, including Married... with Children, Dream On, Star Trek: Voyager, Dharma & Greg, and The Gilmore Girls.-Career:...
.
Personality
Howard is a JewishJudaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
aerospace engineer at Caltech
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
's Department of Applied Physics
Applied physics
Applied physics is a general term for physics which is intended for a particular technological or practical use.It is usually considered as a bridge or a connection between "pure" physics and engineering....
who often hangs out at Leonard Hofstadter
Leonard Hofstadter
Leonard Leakey Hofstadter, Ph.D., is a fictional character on the CBS television series The Big Bang Theory, portrayed by actor Johnny Galecki. Leonard is an experimental physicist from New Jersey who shares an apartment with colleague and best friend Sheldon Cooper...
(Johnny Galecki
Johnny Galecki
John Mark "Johnny" Galecki is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as David Healy in the ABC sitcom Roseanne, Rusty Griswold in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and as Leonard Hofstadter in the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory.-Early life:Galecki was born in Bree, Belgium, of...
) and Sheldon Cooper
Sheldon Cooper
Sheldon Lee Cooper, B.S., M.S., M.A., Ph.D., Sc.D. is a fictional character from Texas on the CBS television series The Big Bang Theory, portrayed by actor Jim Parsons...
's (Jim Parsons
Jim Parsons
James Joseph "Jim" Parsons is an American television and film actor. He is best known for playing Sheldon Cooper on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory, with his performance often cited as a significant reason for the program's success...
) apartment where he is best friends with Rajesh Koothrappali
Rajesh Koothrappali
Rajesh Ramayan "Raj" Koothrappali, Ph.D. is a fictional character on the CBS television series The Big Bang Theory, portrayed by actor Kunal Nayyar....
(Kunal Nayyar
Kunal Nayyar
Kunal Nayyar is an Indian actor born in London, England, and raised in New Delhi, India. He is known for his role as Rajesh Koothrappali on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory.-Education:...
). He was born in 1981 as specified in season one's episode "The Pancake Batter Anomaly".
Howard sports a bowl-style haircut and tends to wear loud, vintage, 1960-era outfits, a V-neck or t-shirt over a turtleneck or dickey which sport a variety of pins, and always has skinny jeans. He is also fond of unusual belt buckle
Belt buckle
A belt buckle is a buckle, a clasp for fastening two ends, as of straps or a belt, in which a device attached to one of the ends is fitted or coupled to the other. The word enters Middle English via Old French and the Latin buccula or "cheek-strap," as for a helmet...
s, which have included a Nintendo controller, a silver Batman logo
Bat-Signal
The Bat-Signal is a distress signal device appearing in the various interpretations of the Batman mythos. It is a specially modified Klieg searchlight with a stylized symbol of a bat attached to the light so that it projects a large Bat emblem on the sky or buildings of Gotham City...
, a 45 RPM record insert, a Klingon
Klingon
Klingons are a fictional warrior race in the Star Trek universe.Klingons are recurring villains in the 1960s television show Star Trek: The Original Series, and have appeared in all five spin-off series and eight feature films...
communicator, and a buckle containing the superhero the Flash
Flash (comics)
The Flash is a name shared by several fictional comic book superheroes from the DC Comics universe. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in Flash Comics #1 ....
. Like his friends, Howard is a big fan of comic books and superheroes. It is also quite clear that his current and preferred personal transportation is via his Vespa
Vespa
Vespa is an Italian brand of scooter manufactured by Piaggio. The name means wasp in Italian.The Vespa has evolved from a single model motor scooter manufactured in 1946 by Piaggio & Co. S.p.A...
motor scooter.
Besides English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, Howard is fluent in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Mandarin
Standard Mandarin
Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Chinese, also known as Mandarin or Putonghua, is the official language of the People's Republic of China and Republic of China , and is one of the four official languages of Singapore....
, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
, Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
, sign language
Sign language
A sign language is a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns to convey meaning—simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to fluidly express a speaker's...
, and the constructed language
Constructed language
A planned or constructed language—known colloquially as a conlang—is a language whose phonology, grammar, and/or vocabulary has been consciously devised by an individual or group, instead of having evolved naturally...
Klingon
Klingon language
The Klingon language is the constructed language spoken by the fictional Klingons in the Star Trek universe....
from the Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
franchise. Although in the show, Howard has been mentioned to speak these languages, the writers have not explored his proficiency much. In the season three episode "The Precious Fragmentation", he also has shown he knows some words in Sindarin
Sindarin
Sindarin is a fictional language devised by J. R. R. Tolkien, and used in his secondary world, often called Middle-earth.Sindarin is one of the many languages spoken by the immortal Elves, called the Eledhrim or Edhellim in Sindarin....
, the fictional Elvish
Elf (Middle-earth)
In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, Elves are one of the races that inhabit a fictional Earth, often called Middle-earth, and set in the remote past. They appear in The Hobbit and in The Lord of the Rings, but their complex history is described more fully in The Silmarillion...
language that inspired J.R.R. Tolkien to write the Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
novels. The episode "The Wiggly Finger Catalyst" also reveals he knows American Sign Language
American Sign Language
American Sign Language, or ASL, for a time also called Ameslan, is the dominant sign language of Deaf Americans, including deaf communities in the United States, in the English-speaking parts of Canada, and in some regions of Mexico...
.
Howard fancies himself a "ladies' man" and he provides outrageous pick-up line
Pick-up line
A pick-up line is a conversation opener with the intent of engaging an unfamiliar person for romance, or dating. Overt and sometimes humorous displays of romantic interest, pick-up lines advertise the wit of their speakers to their target listeners....
s whenever there is a female present. Howard describes himself as a romantic, although he usually comes across as overtly sexual and, in the words of Penny, disgusting. However, Penny's animosity toward Howard has mellowed somewhat since Howard began dating Penny's work colleague Bernadette, to whom he is now engaged.
Howard, much like Penny, dislikes many of Sheldon's antics, but he has grown accustomed to them. One time, Penny asked how Sheldon had gotten friends and Howard simply replied "We liked Leonard".
Howard is allergic to peanuts
Peanut allergy
Peanut allergy is a type of food allergy distinct from nut allergies. It is a type 1 hypersensitivity reaction to dietary substances from peanuts causing an overreaction of the immune system which in a small percentage of people may lead to severe physical symptoms. It is estimated to affect...
, and they pose a life-threatening risk to him. He also mentioned having transient idiopathic arrhythmia. Howard is proud of the fact that he has only 3% body fat, which Raj notes makes him look like a human chicken wing.
Although Jewish, Howard is not very serious about his faith and does not keep kosher
Kashrut
Kashrut is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha is termed kosher in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér , meaning "fit" Kashrut (also kashruth or kashrus) is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha (Jewish law) is termed...
. For instance, he eats pork
Pork
Pork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig , which is eaten in many countries. It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC....
, and when the price of pork went up at the group's favorite Chinese restaurant, he remarked "it's getting tougher and tougher to be a bad Jew". In another occasion, when Howard tried to date Sheldon's sister, Missy, he said he would kill his rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
with a pork chop
Pork chop
A pork chop is a cut of pork cut perpendicularly to the spine of the pig and usually containing a rib or part of a vertebra, served as an individual portion.-Variations:...
if his religion was an impediment, and one of the reasons he was happy to continue dating Bernadette (who is Catholic) was the chance to really annoy his mom. Despite this, Howard has shown some belief in his faith. When he and Raj
Rajesh Koothrappali
Rajesh Ramayan "Raj" Koothrappali, Ph.D. is a fictional character on the CBS television series The Big Bang Theory, portrayed by actor Kunal Nayyar....
posed as goths
Goth subculture
The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify...
to pick up women, he wore fake-tattoo
Tattoo
A tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...
sleeves
Sleeve tattoo
A sleeve tattoo is a large tattoo, or a collection of smaller tattoos, usually themed in similar manner, that covers most or all of a person's arm, usually from shoulder to wrist....
and refused to get real ones. He also apparently attends High Holiday services, as Sheldon once critically noted that he was not available to compete in Halo
Halo (series)
Halo is a multi-million dollar science fiction video game franchise created by Bungie and now managed by 343 Industries and owned by Microsoft Studios. The series centers on an interstellar war between humanity and a theocratic alliance of aliens known as the Covenant...
during those times.
As of the episode "The Herb Garden Germination", he is engaged to Bernadette when she said yes to his marriage proposal.
Work
Unlike LeonardLeonard Hofstadter
Leonard Leakey Hofstadter, Ph.D., is a fictional character on the CBS television series The Big Bang Theory, portrayed by actor Johnny Galecki. Leonard is an experimental physicist from New Jersey who shares an apartment with colleague and best friend Sheldon Cooper...
, Sheldon
Sheldon Cooper
Sheldon Lee Cooper, B.S., M.S., M.A., Ph.D., Sc.D. is a fictional character from Texas on the CBS television series The Big Bang Theory, portrayed by actor Jim Parsons...
, and Raj
Rajesh Koothrappali
Rajesh Ramayan "Raj" Koothrappali, Ph.D. is a fictional character on the CBS television series The Big Bang Theory, portrayed by actor Kunal Nayyar....
, Howard does not have a Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
and is sometimes mocked about it, especially by Sheldon. He defends himself by pointing out that he has a master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
from MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
. Because he does not carry a Ph.D., Dr. Gablehauser pointedly refers to him as "mister" while referring to his friends as doctors. Because Howard does not have a Ph.D., Sheldon often says that he is the least smart of the four "nerd" characters, as shown in "The Bus Pants Utilization", where the guys develop an iPhone app and Sheldon refers to them as "three geniuses and their friend Howard".
Howard is usually seen working on equipment to be used in NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
missions and the International Space Station
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
, though many times he is careless about it.
In the first episode, Howard mentioned working on the design of a satellite that orbits a moon of Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
taking high-resolution photos.
Having worked on the Mars rover
Mars Rover
A Mars rover is an automated motor vehicle which propels itself across the surface of the planet Mars after landing.Rovers have several advantages over stationary landers: they examine more territory, they can be directed to interesting features, they can place themselves in sunny positions to...
project, he invited his date, Dr. Stephanie Barnett, to drive it at a secret facility. Instead, the rover
Rover (space exploration)
A rover is a space exploration vehicle designed to move across the surface of a planet or other astronomical body. Some rovers have been designed to transport members of a human spaceflight crew; others have been partially or fully autonomous robots...
became stuck in a Martian ditch
Ditch
A ditch is usually defined as a small to moderate depression created to channel water.In Anglo-Saxon, the word dïc already existed and was pronounced 'deek' in northern England and 'deetch' in the south. The origins of the word lie in digging a trench and forming the upcast soil into a bank...
and he spent the rest of the night with Sheldon
Sheldon Cooper
Sheldon Lee Cooper, B.S., M.S., M.A., Ph.D., Sc.D. is a fictional character from Texas on the CBS television series The Big Bang Theory, portrayed by actor Jim Parsons...
and Raj
Rajesh Koothrappali
Rajesh Ramayan "Raj" Koothrappali, Ph.D. is a fictional character on the CBS television series The Big Bang Theory, portrayed by actor Kunal Nayyar....
trying to undo the damage. When this proved unsuccessful, he decided to erase the hard drives of the facility to cover up his meddling, only to later find out that the rover had discovered the first clear signs of life on mars. When he made it onto a new team for the Defense Department laser-equipped surveillance satellite, Howard was not granted security clearance after Sheldon revealed the rover incident to an investigating FBI agent.
On another occasion, Howard worked on a zero-gravity human-waste disposal system
Space toilet
A space toilet, or zero gravity toilet, is a toilet that can be used in a weightless environment. In the absence of weight the collection and retention of liquid and solid waste is directed by use of air flow. Since the air used to direct the waste is returned to the cabin, it is filtered...
, essentially a "space toilet
Space toilet
A space toilet, or zero gravity toilet, is a toilet that can be used in a weightless environment. In the absence of weight the collection and retention of liquid and solid waste is directed by use of air flow. Since the air used to direct the waste is returned to the cabin, it is filtered...
", that was deployed in the International Space Station
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
. He later realized the equipment had a structural weakness and again sought the help of his friends to correct it. The solution proved unsuccessful and an incident on the Space Station ensued (Raj referred to this as the "zero-gravity human-waste distribution system").
Being the engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
among his physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
friends, he assumes the role of leader for small hands-on projects. He was the primary force behind "M.O.N.T.E.", a killer robot
Robot combat
Robot combat is a hobby/sport in which two or more custom-built machines use varied methods of destroying or disabling the other. As of today, in most cases these machines are remote-controlled vehicles rather than autonomous robots, although there are exceptions, particularly in the field of...
designed to enter a robot fighting competition
Robot Fighting League
The Robot Fighting League organizes and promotes combat robot competitions and other robotic sports. The RFL was created in November 2002 out of an ongoing discussion among many of the combat robot competition organizers...
. The robot was destroyed by Barry Kripke's own robot, the "Kripke Krippler", in an unofficial match before the start of competition.
In the season 4 premiere, Howard developed a robotic arm for the International Space Station
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
. Realizing how much it felt like an actual arm, he used the arm to masturbate, only to get the arm stuck on his penis. He called Leonard
Leonard Hofstadter
Leonard Leakey Hofstadter, Ph.D., is a fictional character on the CBS television series The Big Bang Theory, portrayed by actor Johnny Galecki. Leonard is an experimental physicist from New Jersey who shares an apartment with colleague and best friend Sheldon Cooper...
and Raj
Rajesh Koothrappali
Rajesh Ramayan "Raj" Koothrappali, Ph.D. is a fictional character on the CBS television series The Big Bang Theory, portrayed by actor Kunal Nayyar....
, but neither were willing to get too "hands on" and help free him from the arm's grip. He was afraid to use the computer controlling the arm as it thought it was holding a screwdriver
Screwdriver
A screwdriver is a tool for driving screws and often rotating other machine elements with the mating drive system. The screwdriver is made up of a head or tip, which engages with a screw, a mechanism to apply torque by rotating the tip, and some way to position and support the screwdriver...
and would start twisting. Eventually, Leonard and Raj took Howard to the hospital, where the attending nurse went against Howard's fears and turned off the computer, freeing Howard. The episode's tag scene implied that Howard tried to use the arm to masturbate again and ended up in the same predicament.
Howard likely has the most hands-on and mechanical aptitude of the four as well. It appears he has soldering and electrical/wiring abilities as shown when he built the robot fighter M.O.N.T.E.
Family
Howard is noted for still living with his overbearing mother, who is oblivious to his accomplishments as a grown-up and usually treats him like he is still a child, filling the cliché of a Jewish mother.Mrs. Wolowitz is never seen on-screen
Unseen character
In fiction, an unseen character is a character that is never directly observed by the audience but is only described by other characters. They are a common device in drama and have been called "triumphs of theatrical invention". They are continuing characters — characters who are currently in...
, but her voice is heard when he is at their house or when he talks to her on the phone. She only communicates with Howard by yelling to him in an obnoxious manner, which results in awkward long-distance conversations, with Howard frustratedly yelling back at her. Her nosy nature and her barrage of questions make Howard's life tense at home, which prompts him to call her a "crazy old lady". It is revealed in "The Cohabitation Formulation", however, when Howard briefly moves in with Bernadette, that he likes being "mothered" to some extent. In "The Apology Insufficiency", Sheldon observes that Howard seems to have "an unresolved Oedipal complex
Oedipus complex
In psychoanalytic theory, the term Oedipus complex denotes the emotions and ideas that the mind keeps in the unconscious, via dynamic repression, that concentrate upon a boy’s desire to sexually possess his mother, and kill his father...
".
In "The Precious Fragmentation", Howard reveals that his father left his family when Howard was 11. His mother bought him an ALF doll to help Howard try to get over it. When Howard finds a similar doll at a garage sale, he starts talking to it as if he were 11 again, asking him to find his dad and bring him home. This causes Penny (who usually avoids Howard and is disgusted by him) to be sympathetic. The trauma of his father's desertion and the lack of a father figure throughout adolescence may be the root of much of Howard's behavior.
Relationships
Howard is consistently depicted as the most sex-crazed of the guys.One time, he developed a mathematical formula for the likelihood of him having sex
Sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
by applying and modifying the Drake equation
Drake equation
The Drake equation is an equation used to estimate the number of detectable extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy. It is used in the fields of exobiology and the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence...
to include the "Wolowitz coefficient", which he defined as "neediness times dress size squared". He stated, "I'm a horny engineer,... I never joke about math or sex".
Howard's techniques to approach women are varied, including magic
Magic (illusion)
Magic is a performing art that entertains audiences by staging tricks or creating illusions of seemingly impossible or supernatural feats using natural means...
and card tricks, ventriloquism
Ventriloquism
Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is an act of stagecraft in which a person manipulates his or her voice so that it appears that the voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered "dummy"...
, and techniques from the Mystery Method, such as peacocking and negging.
Along with Leonard
Leonard Hofstadter
Leonard Leakey Hofstadter, Ph.D., is a fictional character on the CBS television series The Big Bang Theory, portrayed by actor Johnny Galecki. Leonard is an experimental physicist from New Jersey who shares an apartment with colleague and best friend Sheldon Cooper...
and Raj
Rajesh Koothrappali
Rajesh Ramayan "Raj" Koothrappali, Ph.D. is a fictional character on the CBS television series The Big Bang Theory, portrayed by actor Kunal Nayyar....
, Howard also attempted to date Missy, Sheldon's fraternal twin sister. His offer wasn't accepted.
Katee Sackhoff
Katee Sackhoff
Kathryn Ann "Katee" Sackhoff is an American actress known mainly for playing Captain Kara "Starbuck" Thrace on the Sci Fi Channel's television program Battlestar Galactica. In 2004 she was nominated for a Saturn Award in the "Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series" category for her work in...
appeared as herself in "The Vengeance Formulation" where she is fantasized as Howard's dream girl. She appeared again in season 4, in the same role.
Since the beginning of the series, Howard shows interest in Penny
Penny (The Big Bang Theory)
Penny is a fictional character on the CBS television series The Big Bang Theory, portrayed by American actress Kaley Cuoco.Penny is the main female character on the show. She is Leonard Hofstadter and Sheldon Cooper's neighbor across the hallway, and the main love interest of Leonard...
, but the interest was primarily sexual and she always turned him down. After yet another approach by Howard, Penny finally confronted him about how he treats women. This greatly affected Howard and he fell into depression
Depression (mood)
Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and physical well-being. Depressed people may feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, or restless...
, missing work and staying home. When Penny went to apologize, Howard told her about his past relationships and Penny showed some sympathy
Sympathy
Sympathy is a social affinity in which one person stands with another person, closely understanding his or her feelings. Also known as empathic concern, it is the feeling of compassion or concern for another, the wish to see them better off or happier. Although empathy and sympathy are often used...
for him; after her comforting words, Howard tried to kiss
Kiss
A kiss is the act of pressing one's lips against the lips or other body parts of another person or of an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, affection, respect, greeting, friendship, and good...
her, but she reacted and punched him in the face. With the situation resolved, Penny believed they had come to an "understanding", but Howard thought he was merely "half-way to pity sex" with her.
Howard engaged in a "friends with benefits
Casual relationship
A casual relationship, colloquially known as a fling, is a physical and emotional relationship between two people who may have a sexual relationship or a near-sexual relationship without necessarily demanding or expecting the extra commitments of a more formal romantic relationship...
" relationship with Leslie Winkle, which brought him a few benefits beside sex. However, he still became depressed when Leslie dumped him some time later. In order to cheer him up, Leonard
Leonard Hofstadter
Leonard Leakey Hofstadter, Ph.D., is a fictional character on the CBS television series The Big Bang Theory, portrayed by actor Johnny Galecki. Leonard is an experimental physicist from New Jersey who shares an apartment with colleague and best friend Sheldon Cooper...
and Raj
Rajesh Koothrappali
Rajesh Ramayan "Raj" Koothrappali, Ph.D. is a fictional character on the CBS television series The Big Bang Theory, portrayed by actor Kunal Nayyar....
took Howard to Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
and managed to hire a prostitute for him.
When the guys travelled by train to a symposium
Academic conference
An academic conference or symposium is a conference for researchers to present and discuss their work. Together with academic or scientific journals, conferences provide an important channel for exchange of information between researchers.-Overview:Conferences are usually composed of various...
in San Francisco, Howard had a chance to talk to Summer Glau
Summer Glau
Summer Lyn Glau is an American actress, known for playing River Tam in the science fiction series Firefly and follow-up film Serenity, and for playing Cameron in the series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.-Early life:...
(portraying herself). His clumsy attempts at impressing the actress failed, despite him being in a confined environment with her for multiple hours.
During a camping trip with Leonard
Leonard Hofstadter
Leonard Leakey Hofstadter, Ph.D., is a fictional character on the CBS television series The Big Bang Theory, portrayed by actor Johnny Galecki. Leonard is an experimental physicist from New Jersey who shares an apartment with colleague and best friend Sheldon Cooper...
and Raj
Rajesh Koothrappali
Rajesh Ramayan "Raj" Koothrappali, Ph.D. is a fictional character on the CBS television series The Big Bang Theory, portrayed by actor Kunal Nayyar....
, in which they all got stoned by eating cookies laced with drugs (likely marijuana), Howard revealed he lost his virginity
Virginity
Virginity refers to the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. There are cultural and religious traditions which place special value and significance on this state, especially in the case of unmarried females, associated with notions of personal purity, honor and worth...
to his second cousin Jeanie after his uncle's funeral, something that prompted them to make fun of him incessantly.
Despite the fact that Howard is undeniably obsessed with women, he is accused of being in a homosexual relationship with Raj
Rajesh Koothrappali
Rajesh Ramayan "Raj" Koothrappali, Ph.D. is a fictional character on the CBS television series The Big Bang Theory, portrayed by actor Kunal Nayyar....
. In the show, this has been pointed out by Dr. Beverly Hofstadter, Leonard's
Leonard Hofstadter
Leonard Leakey Hofstadter, Ph.D., is a fictional character on the CBS television series The Big Bang Theory, portrayed by actor Johnny Galecki. Leonard is an experimental physicist from New Jersey who shares an apartment with colleague and best friend Sheldon Cooper...
mother. In her words, they are in an "ersatz
Ersatz
Ersatz means 'substituting for, and typically inferior in quality to', e.g. 'chicory is ersatz coffee'. It is a German word literally meaning substitute or replacement...
homosexual marriage". Raj and Howard have several arguments during the series, in which Raj repeatedly accuses Howard of leaving him for everybody who's only slightly better looking and otherwise assuming the cliché female role in partnership arguments. However, Raj and Howard's relationship is mostly close. Raj will often whisper comments to Howard when Penny is in the room, which allows him an avenue of communication, given his chronic inability to speak to women.
In recent seasons, he has had a romantic relationship with Bernadette Rostenkowski (Melissa Rauch
Melissa Rauch
Melissa Ivy Rauch is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for her role as Bernadette Rostenkowski on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory.-Early life and education:...
). A waitress paying her way through graduate school microbiology studies, Bernadette was introduced to Howard by Penny. At first she and Howard did not get along, as they appeared to have nothing in common. However, when they found out they both had overbearing mothers they immediately felt a connection. They were particularly pleased that it would enrage both Howard's Jewish mom and Bernadette's Catholic mom to find out their kids were dating. They also each noted that they lost their virginity in Toyota vehicles. Subsequently, Howard realized Bernadette represented a real opportunity to develop a lasting relationship and, in an impulsive manner, he proposed to her. Although Bernadette rejected his offer, they remained a couple for a time, but they did later break up. There is often a running gag between Leonard and Howard mocking Raj for being single. In The Plimpton Stimulation, Howard briefly mentioned that he and Bernadette broke up a couple weeks earlier, but did not mention it since he "was waiting for the right time". It was later revealed that the relationship ended because Bernadette caught Howard having cyber sex with "Glacinda the Troll" on World of Warcraft (Glacinda was also revealed later on to have been played by a male member of the university). By the end of the episode, the two discussed their problems and restarted their relationship from the beginning. In the episode, "The Herb Garden Germination", Howard proposed to Bernadette in front of his friends and she accepted, much to Raj's dismay (he had developed feelings for Bernadette). However, during their engagement, Bernadette was awarded her Doctorate degree and revealed that she got a job at a pharmaceutical company that promised a "buttload of money." Although he claimed to have supported her new career, Howard's friends mocked him for not having a Doctorate and made him jealous of Bernadette's job. The situation reached its breaking point when Bernadette and he had an argument after she bought him a Rolex, as he interpreted it as a sign that she would be the main breadwinner. The souring of relations only grew worse when he learned from Raj that, in addition to having slept with Penny, Raj also was writing love poems and fantasizing about Bernadette, which led to Howard not trusting Bernadette and thinking she may cheat on him with Raj.
Season 4 introduced Howard's "latent homosexual tendencies" when George Takei appeared as himself in an imaginary conversation with Bernadette and Katee Sackhoff
Katee Sackhoff
Kathryn Ann "Katee" Sackhoff is an American actress known mainly for playing Captain Kara "Starbuck" Thrace on the Sci Fi Channel's television program Battlestar Galactica. In 2004 she was nominated for a Saturn Award in the "Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series" category for her work in...
over his relationship status with Bernadette. It has also been hinted in prior episodes that such feeling may have stretched towards Raj
Rajesh Koothrappali
Rajesh Ramayan "Raj" Koothrappali, Ph.D. is a fictional character on the CBS television series The Big Bang Theory, portrayed by actor Kunal Nayyar....
as well by Leonard's
Leonard Hofstadter
Leonard Leakey Hofstadter, Ph.D., is a fictional character on the CBS television series The Big Bang Theory, portrayed by actor Johnny Galecki. Leonard is an experimental physicist from New Jersey who shares an apartment with colleague and best friend Sheldon Cooper...
mother.
See also
- List of The Big Bang Theory characters
- List of The Big Bang Theory episodes