Leonard Hofstadter

Leonard Leakey Hofstadter is one of the main characters from the Big Bang Theory series.

Leonard is an experimental physicist at the California Institute of Technologywho formerly roomed with Sheldon Cooper in Apartment 4Aand now he and his wife Penny live in that apartment and they also formerly lived in Penny's apartment Apartment 4B which is now inhabited by Sheldon and his wife Amy Farrah Fowler. Along with Sheldon, he is the main male protagonist. Originally from New Jersey, Leonard attended Princeton University and was twenty-four years old when he received his doctorate with a Dissertation of the Year award for experimental particle physics. Having lived with Sheldon for ten years as of Season 6, he and Leonard are best friends; however, Leonard can become very agitated by many of his eccentricities and often feels obligated to explain Sheldon's behavior and serve as a mediator between him and other people in situations – he has been described as the straight man of the series. While Leonard, along with his geek friends and fellow scientists, is somewhat socially inept, Leonard would like to be better accepted outside of his social group. Leonard is better-adjusted than his companions, being more willing to try different things. He appears to be best suited as a leader of the group, with Sheldon commenting how Leonard is the "Kirk" of the group. The writers have toyed with a romance between him and neighbor Penny, with their on-and-off relationship being a major force for drama.

Appearance
Leonard is a short and a little thick man, originally in his late twenties, but he's in his late thirties now. He is 5' 5" (1.65 m) with brunette hair and brown eyes. Penny thinks that his eyebrows are weird. His wardrobe includes black thick-framed glasses, a large variety of colored and patterned sweat shirts with hoods worn under a neutral colored jacket, brown trousers, and low-cut black Converse All Stars sneakers. Like Sheldon, Leonard often wears physics-themed t-shirts (under his other layers), but he has a much wider selection; many of his t-shirt themes deal with social issues such as renewable energy (wind farms) and recycling, as well as animal issues (rescue programs and themes around endangered species). Leonard's wardrobe has its own section on the Wiki. Sheldon once said, male members of Leonard's family get bald very early, yet neither Leonard or his father are bald nor have lost much hair.

Personality
Although Leonard feels at home with his geek colleagues, he is reluctant to let others know about his recreational activities (such as Klingon Boggle), as he does not like to be seen as a geek and wants to be more social. Sweet, thoughtful, kind, intelligent, mature, sardonic and socially awkward but well-meaning, Leonard also seems to be the most well-adjusted and sensible one of the group, and is quick to try new things apart from his geek friends.

However, despite his reasonable nature, he can sometimes display selfishness, normally putting his needs before his friends' well-being. During the group's expedition to North Pole he tricks Sheldon into thinking that he had definitively proven slow moving magnetic monopoles when in reality it was simply static from him switching the electric can opener on and off as he and Howard and Raj were irritated by Sheldon and when they return from the North Pole he is totally humiliated among his scientific peers. When Sheldon fled to Texas to live with his mother, Leonard, despite the trick being his idea, wanted Raj and Howard to go to Texas without him to convince Sheldon to come back, just so that he could have sex with Penny ("The Electric Can Opener Fluctuation"). Another example is when he refuses for Zack Johnson to be Superman for the comic book store's costume party when Zack has actual muscles ("The Justice League Recombination"). Another example of Leonard's selfishness was when he was sleeping with Raj's sister Priya, and didn't seem to care how Raj felt about the situation ("The Cohabitation Formulation").

A lifetime of being denied and rejected of praise and acclaim that he unavoidably deserves (Because his mother had absolutely no regard or admiration for him and often ruined his infrequent moments of happiness as a child, and Sheldon relentlessly unknowingly demoralizes him and his accomplishments out of egomania and sheer apathy) has led to Leonard yearning for recognition for his intelligence, compassion and determination. He becomes extremely bitter when he discovers that a major science paper that he and Sheldon cooperatively wrote was published with only Sheldon's name (which was obviously Sheldon's fault due to Sheldon being an arrogant credit hog). He also admits to Sheldon that he is an egotist who needs his big ego to be constantly validated from people who are much less smarter than he is while presenting their paper to a class of grad students.

As a result of how he was raised (Unloved and underappreciated, due to the lack of love from his parents, his mother's views of raising children (as obviously opposed to his father's), him not being as intelligent as his siblings and his mother having been unloving, unsupportive and neglectful altogether and treating Leonard as a personal science experiment instead), Leonard was seen as not any happier than Sheldon (who grew up loved) and frequently insecure and sometimes unhappy. But that soon changed during his second relationship with Penny. She made him more confident during their relationship (Since Penny always gave him lots of love and affection and Leonard was only in love with her the day they first met and this love would last eternally until the end of time and Leonard didn't feel in love with any other girl) and by the time they were married, Leonard was much happier than he had ever been in his life, having married the love of his life, as said by Amy and Bernadette in "The Separation Oscillation" (even his mother thought that perhaps she was wrong that they shouldn't be together due to Penny's education status, but when she saw how happy Leonard had been since their marriage, which she had never seen before, she thought they were a good couple together).

Among the main characters, he generally has the least amount of difficulty interacting with "ordinary" individuals, as compared to Sheldon (who is unable to grasp social norms), Raj (who is unable to talk to women outside his family unless under the influence of alcohol until the end of season 6), and even Howard (who is often seen as "creepy" when flirting with women) since Leonard is the only one of them interested and quite adept in building interpersonal and social relationships with other people. Compared to his friends, he is also relatively the most successful with women.

Between Sheldon and him, Leonard is the only one who feels that he "should do something" when Penny begins to recount her recent breakup. Leonard usually blurts out the wrong things in front of women when he is nervous, such as when he's trying to invite Penny to lunch and mentions that curry is a natural laxative, or, as in "The Plimpton Stimulation" where he can't decide what to say he will often combine thoughts. i.e. "Hi-lo," instead of "Hi," or "Hello."

Despite his attempts to reject his geek status, Leonard owns, among other things, Star Wars hygiene products, an expensive Superman comic book collection, a "Battlestar Galactica" Colonial warrior's flight suit, and a light saber that he calls a "glow stick". Early in the series, Leonard tried to get rid of his collectibles to show maturity and impress Penny; however, he changed his mind when he saw Penny was already dating another man.

Leonard is indicated to be proficient in literature, history, and music as well as the sciences - he is able to solve a woman's crossword puzzle in a matter of seconds (the answers were mostly literary in nature) and he can play the cello.

Having lived with Sheldon for many years, they are best friends, and he is obligated to explain Sheldon's irrational behavior and serve as a mediator between him and other people in many situations; however, Leonard often gets very irritated by much of his behavior. For instance, when Penny and Sheldon engaged in a fierce dispute, Leonard gave Penny the phone number of Sheldon's mother so she would call her son and scold Sheldon for his behavior, thus ending the fight, as shown in the episode "The Panty Piñata Polarization".

Leonard is also upset that Sheldon dislikes his favorite show, Babylon 5, which Sheldon refuses to allow to be watched in his apartment. Like everyone, he dislikes his friend's habit of rattling off different trivial facts. Leonard's IQ of 173 is not as high as Sheldon's and the latter has scoffed at Leonard's whiteboard theories as common enough to be "scribbled on the wall of every men's room at MIT".

Leonard seems to get along well with Howard. Leonard and Howard even have a Girlfriend Pact, which Leonard invoked in "The Desperation Emanation" so that Howard would help him get a girlfriend. In "The Peanut Reaction", Howard tried to make Leonard's birthday a surprise, going as far as getting himself hospitalized, proving to Leonard how much Howard cares for him. Leonard also seems to get along well with Raj. Although Leonard does get irritated by much of Raj's impulsive and eccentric behavior, as in "The Griffin Equivalency" where Raj became pompous and self-absorbed after being chosen to be in People magazine.

Leonard has a lot of conditions. He is lactose intolerant, asthmatic, bespectacled due to myopia, prone to carsickness and migraines, gets a bloody nose after jogging, suffers from sleep apnea, allergies and a lot of ear infections, and possesses a genetic predisposition to heart disease. Leonard's primary health concern is his lactose intolerance. He avoids eating even small amounts of dairy products (including cheese, yogurt, and butter), as well as melon and desserts at The Cheesecake Factory, for fear of his intestines blowing up like a balloon animal and resulting in the emission of a noxious gas that Sheldon maintains can be weaponized. This digestive trait is often the subject of teasing. According to the pilot episode, he cannot process corn either.

Leonard is self-conscious about his childhood bed-wetting, particularly given his middle name, Leakey (he was named for noted British archaeologist and naturalist Louis Leakey). He similarly despises that the word "nerd" is in his first name.

Leonard is somewhat neurotic, insecurely tilting his head as he speaks nervously, as well as avoiding eye contact and squinting. When under great stress, his voice is elevated to a high-pitched whine or he gets sweaty. At times, Leonard's demeanor seems very low energy and somewhat irritable. Clumsy, he often bangs his head, which induces vomiting. Leonard is incredibly sensitive about his height (he stopped growing in 8th grade), although he enjoys pointing out that Howard is shorter.

Leonard is usually seen wearing his characteristic black-framed glasses, neutral-colored jackets or vests over a hoodie, low-cut black Converse sneakers, brown trousers, and physics-themed t-shirts. Along with questionable fashion choices, including mismatched color schemes, he sometimes applies an absurd amount of hair gel; however, his girlfriends often buy him new clothes, and he has put aside his corduroy suit for formal occasions to don a fancy silk shirt and vest or blazer, much to Penny's approval.

Over the course of the series, despite retaining his geeky habits, Leonard's confidence has grown and he has become more socially adept throughout the series. Leonard is also somewhat charismatic and a good leader in certain situations, which Sheldon shockingly recognizes.

Trivia

 * Sheldon has more popularity than him; however, in his world, people like him more than they like Sheldon.
 * Character has appeared in every episode including both pilots.
 * Leonard wants to achieve a Nobel Prize someday.
 * Leonard is skeptical of loop quantum gravity.
 * While Leonard's IQ is never directly stated in the show, he states in the "Pilot" that he and Sheldon have a combined IQ of 360. Sheldon states that his IQ is 187, so therefore Leonard must have an IQ of 173. Sheldon also states his intellect cannot be accurately measured by a "regular" IQ test.
 * IQ scores are an expression of what percentage of the population a person is "smarter" (achieved higher result) than. An IQ of 100 is assigned to the mean population score ("average intelligence") and a point of IQ is defined so that one standard deviation of the sample corresponds to 15 points (on modern tests; older tests like the classic Stanford-Binet Test had 16 points per st. deviation). Tabulation of IQ score rarity is available online; using that, an IQ of 173 occurs approximately once in 1.75 million individuals (assuming the score comes from a modern SD-15 test), and there are therefore some 4,150 people in the world (assuming a world population of 7.25 billion) at least as smart as Leonard (or in other words, Leonard is smarter than all but 4,150 people in the world). If instead Leonard scored 173 on an SD-16 test, then his intelligence is about 1 in 400,000, i.e. there are some 18,000 people in the world at least as smart as him.
 * On the other hand, it is true that all current IQ tests are imprecise for very high (or very low) scores -- this is because there are very few people with such scores, rather than being due to bad design of the tests themselves.
 * Leonard received his PhD at age 24.
 * Leonard is 5 ft. 5 in. (1.65 m) tall [1] – the height of Johnny Galecki. In "The Egg Salad Equivalency", Sheldon states his "short, bespectacled colleague" is "... strutting around like he’s five-foot-six," which implies that Leonard is shorter than this measurement. (Refer to the Trivia of "The Decoupling Fluctuation".)
 * Despite being short, Leonard states he is "too tall to be a jockey" (Though to Sheldon's amusement he's the perfect person for the sport).
 * Leonard is a quarter inch taller than Howard.
 * By later seasons, Leonard's height doesn't appear to be too much of an issue for him anymore, given that he's now been shown to be taller than Amy, and roughly the same height as Penny.
 * In "The Alien Parasite Hypothesis", which aired in 2010, Leonard says, "12 years after high school, and I’m still at the nerd table." This fact implies he was born in 1980, the same year as Sheldon, provided the following. The assumption that he graduated at the usual age of 18-years-old is supported by him having had a senior prom, which is mentioned in "The Peanut Reaction".
 * Leonard has a grandmother with Alzheimer's that came to Thanksgiving and stripped naked, carving the turkey.
 * Leonard wears boxer shorts rather than underpants or trunks.
 * Leonard always wears neutral colored sweat jackets.
 * Despite his lactose-intolerance; however, Leonard can actually process small amounts of non-fat ice-cream without farting (according to Sheldon).
 * Leonard has Darth Vader 'No More Tears' shampoo and Luke Skywalker hair conditioner.
 * Leonard is a huge Superman fan, so much so that he owns all of the Superman films and more than 2600 Superman comics, as well as Superman underwear. He also has an unseen Superman costume with new boots that adds three inches to his height, which he wore at the comic book store's annual New Year's Eve party when the group went as the Justice League. Sheldon says he is their weak point, and he got replaced by Penny's friend Zack at the most recent party.
 * Many of Leonard's shirts are scientifically inspired, such as in episode 1x03 where he can be seen wearing a shirt with a "Paradox" molecule.
 * Leonard and Sheldon own Dell XPS computers. After "The Bozeman Reaction," he owned a Dell Adamo XPS.
 * Leonard's favorite TV shows are Babylon 5 and Buffy the Vampire Slayer
 * Leonard can play the cello, mirroring Johnny Galecki's own talent of playing the instrument.
 * Leonard used to get stuffed in his own cello case.
 * Leonard and Sheldon are named after actor and producer Sheldon Leonard.
 * Leonard is unaccustomed to observing birthdays, by choice of his mother's views on psychiatry. He had never had a birthday party before moving to Pasadena.
 * Leonard's parents both formerly lived in New Jersey. His father now lives in New York after his divorce.
 * Leonard drove a silver Volkswagen Touareg with a luggage rack on top early on in the show.
 * Leonard plays lead guitar on Rock Band.
 * Leonard plays Age of Conan with the guys and is probably an Assassin (his character can be seen when he is checking on Penny via the game).
 * Leonard has sleep apnea.
 * Leonard gets carsick unless he sits in the front.
 * Leonard has trouble making eye contact, only being able to do so with Penny and the rest of his friends, which could be indicative of Asperger's Syndrome, ADD, or simply social anxiety.
 * Leonard is the group's (not including Penny) Wii bowling 'Team Captain'.
 * Leonard's last name (Hofstadter) is in honor of Nobel Prize Winning Physicist Robert Hofstadter, who worked at Stanford University in the field of Nuclear Physics.
 * Leonard dislikes his name since it has "Nerd" in it, saying he prefers the name Angelo as it has "angel" and "Jello" in it, although he was high at the time.
 * Leonard claimed he could hear Penny flushing her toilet from his apartment.
 * Leonard tried to get the nickname "Duncan" by carrying around a Duncan brand yo-yo. This only resulted in bullies stealing the yo-yo and stuffing their socks into his mouth, making him "Sockmouth".
 * Leonard was his school's debate club president.
 * Leonard believes he is the "King of foreplay", as he used to do lengthy shows for Penny before they had sex.
 * Leonard gets asthma attacks when he has panic attacks.
 * He is only main male character who wears glasses.
 * Leonard tried wearing contacts in 7th grade, but could never get used to them.
 * Leonard wears black framed glasses (he originally wore tortoise shell glasses eight years ago), even if in costume.
 * He is the only character who has had five girlfriends Joyce Kim, Leslie Winkle, Penny, Stephanie Barnettand Priya Koothrappali), followed by Howard with four girlfriends (Christy Vanderbel, Leslie Winkle (friends with benefits), Lisa and Bernadette Rostenkowski).
 * He is afraid of horses.
 * Leonard always wears shorts when he goes to Kurt's apartment for Penny's errands.
 * Leonard is always wearing a t-shirt when he is in bed with Penny.
 * Like Sheldon, Penny, Rajesh, and Amy, Leonard became a reverend to marry Howard and Bernadette.
 * Bernadette, Raj, Leonard, Penny and Amy are the only characters of the social group/main cast whose parents have both been seen on-camera - Sheldon's father died when Sheldon was a child, Howard's fatherabandoned him and his mother when Howard was eleven, Stuart's mother and father have been mentioned and are both alive, Emily's father has been mentioned and it is not known if he is dead or alive and there has been no appearance or mention of Emily's mother or Leslie's mother and father to date.
 * Leonard's great-great grandmother was half-Cherokee (as stated in "The Irish Pub Formulation"). This statement makes Leonard 1/32nd Cherokee.
 * Estimated by Howard; Leonard's ideal mate is a short, low self-esteemed woman scientist living in a government facility in China.
 * As he stated in "The Contractual Obligation Implementation," when he was in middle school he wanted to be a rap star like Snoop Dog, but with "a healthy respect for the police." He states his parents pushed him into becoming a scientist.
 * Though, after watching Professor Proton, he eventually became inspired to follow through with science.
 * One of Leonard's favorite fictional characters is Frodo Baggins from The Lord of the Rings (as stated by Sheldon in "The Large Hadron Collision".)
 * Leonard finds himself dating a married woman in "The Thanksgiving Decoupling".
 * The final proposal count to each other was Penny 3; Leonard 3.
 * It has been suggested that the character of Leonard Hofstadter owes something to that of Professor Ponder Stibbons, a Research Wizard in Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of fantasy novels. Ponder, in a university of Wizards devoted to magic, takes a minority view that Science is also important; he is to all intents and purposes a physicist. Leonard is a research physicist who enjoys fantasy works and plays games where he role-plays a Wizard. (Mystic Warlords of Ka'a). Both are geeky young men with glasses who affect clothing which is shapeless, baggy, neutrally colored and for preference has a hood. The Science of Discworld series, which are co-written with eminent British scientists who are well known in USA academia, use Pratchett's fantasy world as a means of explaining ongoing scientific thought to a lay audience. The Discworld story begins with a massive explosion of magical energy that has to be diverted down a safe path, in order to avert a seriously Big Bang. Ponder Stibbons discovers he has inadvertently created a whole Universe out of nothing. This cools and expands and passes through stages like drooling autotrophs (explicitly referenced) until, presumably, California and Caltech evolve. It is possible Terry Pratchett watches and enjoys TBBT, and/or that Chuck Lorre reads Discworld novels.
 * Leonard's relationship with Penny is the only one on the show that isn't set up by someone. Howard and Bernadette were set up by Penny, Sheldon and Amy were set up by Howard and Raj through a dating website, and Raj met Emily on a dating site.
 * Leonard and Sheldon are similar of the characters of the Odd Couple. Leonard Hofstadter is similar to Oscar Madison. Leonard may not be a slob, but he is funny loving and nice. He is really cool and childlike.
 * Leonard would just settle being nominated for Nobel Prize. Just hope Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady write that in sometimes, where Leonard gets nominated for Nobel Prize with Howard or Raj.
 * Sheldon and Leonard drive up to Skywalker Ranch to see if they could get in. When they can't, Sheldon runs through the gate and almost gets the two of them arrested for trespassing. Despite not actually running with Sheldon, Leonard is permanently banned from Skywalker Ranch along with Sheldon, and will be arrested if he ever comes back.
 * Leonard, Sheldon, Howard and Raj are the only characters of the current main cast who have appeared in every episode.
 * Leonard is right-handed.
 * Before the episode "The Peanut Reaction", Leonard had never had a birthday party.
 * Leonard's iPad password is his birthday, specifically 4 digits the month and day, according to him, and since Leonard's birthday is known for being May 17, that would make his iPad password 0517.
 * Despite the fact that Leonard's password for everything is "Kal-el", according to Sheldon.
 * Leonard's go to when he's in bed with a girl is "I'm sorry."
 * In the episode "The Staircase Implementation", Leonard states that with Star Trek he prefers the original series over the next generation, but he prefers Picard over Kirk.
 * He nicknamed his genitals "Alvin and the Chipmunks".
 * He drives a Silver Saab Sedan 2002
 * His life would be ruined if it wasn't for Sheldon as he could be end up in jail for leaking confidential information to Joyce Kim or lost his life from his rocket fuel experiment.
 * Leonard shares some similarities with fictional character Sherlock Holmes in that while they are both geniuses, they are also the least intelligent person in their respective families. Also, they are both the middle child and have one brother and one sister.
 * While it has been sometimes said that Leonard and Penny have nothing in common, this is not totally true. There actually are several things they have in common which have rarely or never been mentioned.
 * They each have one brother and one sister and they are both are apparently the middle child, while their respective sisters are the older child and their respective brothers are the younger child.
 * They are the second born child of their respective parents (possibly).
 * They had issues with the opposite-gender parent while growing up.
 * They are the love of each other's life
 * Their careers are in some ways similar; While Leonard is a smart, brilliant and successful scientist and physicist and well-educated and accomplished academic, his work in experimental physics somehow appears to mirror Penny's average education status and her pharmaceutical sales career in which she has often had to flirt with doctors to make sales. This makes it similar due to Leonard's work being sometimes derivative and his friends having more accomplishments, as well as him being the least successful of his family.