Big Bang Sitcom Stars Scientific American Tonight
On the March 12 episode of The Big Bang Theory, a mock copy of Scientific American becomes a key part of the plot. The sitcom's science advisor, U.C.L.A. physicist David Saltzberg, talks about the show's reach to the lay public. Steve Mirsky reports
By Steve Mirsky
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On tonight’s new episode of the hit sitcom The Big Bang Theory, a mock copy of Scientific American magazine becomes a big plot point. Which makes today a good time to hear from U.C.L.A. physicist David Saltzberg. He’s the show’s science advisor. I recorded a talk he gave at the City University of New York’s Graduate Center all the way back in 2010. Here’s a clip.
“We have about 15 million viewers each episode. And it’s not the same 15 million viewers each episode. So, I could go out and give public lectures on science with 100 people in them every week for 100,000 weeks to get to 10 million people. So this is brief, but it’s a huge audience. And people do watch television with their laptops around. And hopefully they will Google something, and that may be a chance to get the idea that there’s dark matter out there. Especially if they [the characters] are working on it week after week, and people do care about the characters—there’s a pretty good chance people are Googling what’s going on.”
For more from David Saltzberg, check out the latest episode of the Science Talk podcast. And go to our Web site to read a new Q and A with The Big Bang Theory’s showrunner, Steven Molaro.
—Steve Mirsky
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
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