And that\u2019s where the show\u2019s fictional physicists failed, Zupan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Big Bang Theory\u201d ran from 2007 to 2019 and earned seven Emmys. It remains among the most-watched shows of any streaming service, according to Nielsen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe general idea from our paper was discussed in \u2018The Big Bang Theory\u2019 years ago, but Sheldon and Leonard couldn\u2019t make it work,\u201d Zupan said.<\/p>\n
In one episode, a white board features an equation and diagram that Zupan said describes how axions are generated from the sun.\u00a0In a subsequent episode, another equation appears on a different board. Below the calculations in a different marker color is an unmistakable sad face.<\/p>\n
Zupan said Leonard and Sheldon\u2019s equation estimates the likelihood of detecting axions from their proposed fusion reactor compared to the sun \u2014 with discouraging results, which explains the sad face.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sun is a huge object producing a lot of power. The chance of having new particles produced from the sun that would stream to Earth is larger than having them produced in fusion reactors using the same processes as in the Sun. However, one can still produce them in reactors using a different set of processes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The characters in the show never talk about axions or the white boards in the episodes. They\u2019re just an Easter egg for physicists in a show famous for incorporating scientific concepts like Schrodinger\u2019s cat and the Doppler effect into its storylines, along with cameos by Nobel laureates and \u201cStar Trek\u201d alumni alike.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why it\u2019s fantastic to watch as a scientist,\u201d Zupan said. \u201cThere are many layers to the jokes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Featured image at top: Researchers examined a particle physics problem that was highlighted on the show \u201dThe Big Bang Theory.\u201d Photo\/CBS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"And that\u2019s where the show\u2019s fictional physicists failed, Zupan said. \u201cThe Big Bang Theory\u201d ran from 2007 to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":467277,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[142136,212532,212531,212534,212533,492,1183,159,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-467276","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-physics","8":"tag-college-of-arts-and-sciences","9":"tag-department-of-physics","10":"tag-faculty-staff","11":"tag-innovation-agenda","12":"tag-next-lives-here","13":"tag-physics","14":"tag-research","15":"tag-science","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115770623623740880","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}