Howard Wolowitz
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Howard Joel Wolowitz, M.Eng. is a fictional character and one of the
protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...
s on the 2007–2019
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
television series ''
The Big Bang Theory ''The Big Bang Theory'' is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady for CBS. It aired from September 24, 2007, to May 16, 2019, running for 12 seasons and 279 episodes. The show originally centered on five charact ...
'' created by
Chuck Lorre Charles Michael Lorre ( ; né Levine; born October 18, 1952) is an American television producer, writer, director, and composer. Nicknamed the "King of Sitcoms", Lorre has created/co-created and produced many sitcoms including '' Cybill'' (199 ...
and
Bill Prady William Scott Prady (born June 7, 1960) is an American television writer and producer known for co-creating and producing '' The Big Bang Theory'' (2007–2019) and '' The Muppets'' (2015–2016). He also served as an executive producer on '' D ...
and portrayed by actor
Simon Helberg Simon Maxwell Helberg (born December 9, 1980) is an American actor and comedian. From 2007 to 2019, he played Howard Wolowitz on the CBS sitcom ''The Big Bang Theory'' (2007–2019), and won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Support ...
. Among the four main male characters in the show, Howard is distinctive for being an
engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...
—rather than a
physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...
—and lacking a
PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
. He is named after and based on a computer
programmer A programmer, computer programmer or coder is an author of computer source code someone with skill in computer programming. The professional titles Software development, ''software developer'' and Software engineering, ''software engineer' ...
known by the show's co-creator;
Bill Prady William Scott Prady (born June 7, 1960) is an American television writer and producer known for co-creating and producing '' The Big Bang Theory'' (2007–2019) and '' The Muppets'' (2015–2016). He also served as an executive producer on '' D ...
. Howard is the only starring character who has been to the
International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...
. Along with
Sheldon Cooper Sheldon Lee Cooper, B.S., M.S., M.A., Ph.D., Sc.D., is a fictional character and one of the protagonists in the 2007–2019 CBS television series ''The Big Bang Theory'' and its 2017–2024 spinoff series ''Young Sheldon'', portrayed by act ...
,
Leonard Hofstadter Leonard Leakey Hofstadter, Ph.D. is a fictional character portrayed by Johnny Galecki and one of the protagonists in the 2007–2019 CBS sitcom, ''The Big Bang Theory.'' Leonard is an experimental physicist who shares an apartment with his c ...
, and
Raj Koothrappali Rajesh Ramayan "Raj" Koothrappali, Doctor of Philosophy, Ph.D. is a fictional character and one of the protagonists on the 2007–2019 CBS television series ''The Big Bang Theory'', portrayed by British-Indian actor Kunal Nayyar. He is one of ...
, Howard is part of the central cast of the show.


Biography

In the universe of ''The Big Bang Theory'', Howard is an aerospace engineer at
Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private university, private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small g ...
's Department of Applied Physics and an ex-astronaut for
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
who, in the show, is often seen at the apartment of
Leonard Hofstadter Leonard Leakey Hofstadter, Ph.D. is a fictional character portrayed by Johnny Galecki and one of the protagonists in the 2007–2019 CBS sitcom, ''The Big Bang Theory.'' Leonard is an experimental physicist who shares an apartment with his c ...
(
Johnny Galecki John Mark Galecki (born April 30, 1975) is an American actor, In television, he played Leonard Hofstadter on ''The Big Bang Theory'' (2007–2019) and List of Roseanne and The Conners characters#David Healy, David Healy in ''Roseanne'' (1992–1 ...
) and
Sheldon Cooper Sheldon Lee Cooper, B.S., M.S., M.A., Ph.D., Sc.D., is a fictional character and one of the protagonists in the 2007–2019 CBS television series ''The Big Bang Theory'' and its 2017–2024 spinoff series ''Young Sheldon'', portrayed by act ...
(
Jim Parsons James Joseph Parsons (born March 24, 1973) is an American actor. From 2007 to 2019, Parsons played Sheldon Cooper in the CBS sitcom ''The Big Bang Theory''. He has received various awards, including four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstandin ...
). He was born in 1981, as specified in the season one episode, "The Pancake Batter Anomaly" and is a native of Pasadena (although his mother has an East Coast accent). Howard received his degree in engineering from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...
. Howard is fond of (and collects) decorator belt buckles, though he jokingly claims to own only one belt; his collection includes a NES controller, a silver Batman logo, a 45 RPM record insert, a
Klingon The Klingons ( ; Klingon language, Klingon: ''tlhIngan'' ) are a humanoid species of aliens in the science fiction franchise ''Star Trek''. Developed by screenwriter Gene L. Coon in 1967 for the Star Trek: The Original Series, original ''Star T ...
communicator, and a buckle featuring the superhero
the Flash The Flash is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (cover date, cover-dated Jan ...
. He also typically wears a
turtleneck A polo neck, roll-neck (South Africa), turtleneck (United States, Canada), or skivvy is a garment—usually a sweater—with a close-fitting collar that folds over and covers the neck. It can also refer to the type of neckline, the sty ...
or dickey with an
Alienware Alienware Corporation is an American computer hardware subsidiary brand, but not of Dell. Their product range is dedicated to gaming computers and accessories and can be identified by their Extraterrestrial life, alien-themed designs. Alienware ...
lapel pin A lapel pin, also known as an enamel pin, is a small brooch, pin worn on clothing, often on the Jacket lapel, lapel of a jacket, attached to a bag, or displayed on a piece of fabric. Lapel pins can be ornamental or can indicate the wearer's affi ...
on the collar.


Personality

He lived with his mother for several seasons before eventually moving in with his wife Bernadette Rostenkowski. Until he returned from space in season six, his personal transportation was a
Vespa Vespa () is an Italian brand of scooters and mopeds 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. of Pontedera, Italy, to a ...
motor scooter, which he eventually traded for a
Mini Countryman The Mini Countryman, also called Mini Crossover in Japan until 2024, is a subcompact crossover SUV, the first vehicle of this type to be launched by BMW under the Mini marque. It was launched in 2010 and received a facelift in 2014. The sec ...
. Howard is a
polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...
. Besides English, Howard can speak nine languages including French,
Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
,
Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...
,
Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
,
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
,
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
,
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
,
American Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States and most of Anglophone Canadians, Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that i ...
, and the constructed language
Klingon The Klingons ( ; Klingon language, Klingon: ''tlhIngan'' ) are a humanoid species of aliens in the science fiction franchise ''Star Trek''. Developed by screenwriter Gene L. Coon in 1967 for the Star Trek: The Original Series, original ''Star T ...
from the ''
Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...
'' franchise. He also knows some words in
Sindarin Sindarin is one of Languages constructed by J. R. R. Tolkien, the constructed languages devised by J. R. R. Tolkien for use in his fantasy stories set in Arda (Tolkien), Arda, primarily in Middle-earth. Sindarin is one of the many languages spoke ...
, one of the elvish dialects invented by J.R.R. Tolkien for ''
The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book ''The Hobbit'' but eventually d ...
''. The episode "The Hawking Excitation" reveals that he also understands the computer language Binary ASCII. As in "The Love Spell Potential" (Season 6, ep 23), Howard frequently does impersonations of
Nicolas Cage Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Nicolas Cage, various accolades, including an Academy A ...
, and is capable of impersonating
Al Pacino Alfredo James Pacino ( ; ; born April 25, 1940) is an American actor. Known for his intense performances on stage and screen, Pacino is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. His career spans more than five decades, duri ...
and
Christopher Walken Christopher Walken (born Ronald Walken; March 31, 1943) is an American actor. Christopher Walken on stage and screen, His work on stage and screen has earned him List of awards and nominations received by Christopher Walken, accolades includin ...
. Until his marriage, Howard fancied himself as a "ladies' man" and he provided outrageous and often sexist pick-up lines whenever there was a woman present, resulting in humiliating rejections. Howard describes himself as a romantic, although he usually comes across as overtly sexual, and in the words of
Penny A penny is a coin (: pennies) or a unit of currency (: pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. At present, it is ...
, disgusting. However, Penny's dislike of Howard mellowed since Howard started dating Penny's colleague
Bernadette Bernadette is a French language, French name, a female form of the name Bernard, which means "brave bear". Notable persons with the name include: People * Bernadette (singer) (born 1959), Dutch singer * Bernadette Allen (born 1956), American for ...
, to whom he later got married. When Howard found an ALF doll and revealed that it filled a void for him when his father left, Penny felt sympathy for him and began to empathize more when she understood his behavior a little bit better. Like the rest of the group, Howard dislikes many of Sheldon's antics. He has grown accustomed to them, but he is the quickest to get frustrated with Sheldon. Once, Penny asked how Sheldon had ever gotten any friends, and Howard simply replied, 'We liked Leonard.' Howard is allergic to nuts, particularly peanuts and pistachios; they can induce a life-threatening
anaphylactic reaction Anaphylaxis (Greek: 'up' + 'guarding') is a serious, potentially fatal allergic reaction and medical emergency that is rapid in onset and requires immediate medical attention regardless of the use of emergency medication on site. It typically ...
in him, which has the side effect of disfiguring his face horribly. He once deliberately caused this reaction by eating a granola bar to keep Leonard busy at the hospital when they were planning a surprise birthday party for him, which was motivated by Penny's promise to introduce him to her "easy" friends, as shown in "The Peanut Reaction" (Season 1, Episode 16). Another time, when he was depressed about Leslie Winkle dumping him in season 2, and while he was in
Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
with Raj and Leonard, he tweeted that he was considering suicide by consuming a can of peanuts due to loneliness and not having his desires met. He has also mentioned having transient idiopathic
arrhythmia Arrhythmias, also known as cardiac arrhythmias, are irregularities in the cardiac cycle, heartbeat, including when it is too fast or too slow. Essentially, this is anything but normal sinus rhythm. A resting heart rate that is too fast – ab ...
. Howard is proud of having only three percent body fat, which Raj declares makes him look like a human chicken wing. Although Jewish, Howard is not very serious about his religion 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". On another occasion, when Howard tried to date Sheldon's sister, Missy, he said he would kill his
rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...
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 that it gave him the chance to annoy his mother. 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 (although he attempted to get one but was too scared of the needle). It is noted in "The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis" that he observes
Hanukkah Hanukkah (, ; ''Ḥănukkā'' ) is a Jewish holidays, Jewish festival commemorating the recovery of Jerusalem and subsequent rededication of the Second Temple at the beginning of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd ce ...
. He also apparently attends High Holy Day services, as Sheldon once critically commented that he was not available to compete in ''Halo'' during those times. However, in "The Financial Permeability" he made the sign of the cross—a
Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
practice—during an encounter with Kurt, Penny's former boyfriend. In the episode "The Herb Garden Germination", he became engaged to Bernadette when she accepted his marriage proposal. They eventually married in the season 5 finale, "The Countdown Reflection", which featured a small reception. They had planned to have a bigger, "official" reception after Howard returned from space (although this was not featured). Like most of the characters in the series, Howard is musically inclined and plays the piano well. He has used this talent to romantically impress Bernadette a number of times. He has also formed a filk band with Raj (and later Bert) named "Footprints on the Moon" and has written songs about popular heroes such as Thor and Indiana Jones.


Work

Unlike Leonard, Sheldon, and Raj, Howard lacks a Ph.D. He has a
Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...
from MIT (he first studied in medical school but dropped out since he was terrified of blood). This often leads to mocking and derision from Sheldon, Amy and the Head of Department, Dr. Gablehauser, who usually refers to him as "mister" while referring to his friends as doctors. Additionally, 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 defends himself, however, by pointing out that as an aerospace engineer, his work has actual real-world application, whereas his friends' work is largely theoretical. Howard has also been considered for a top-secret government project, a polar exploration mission, and a position on the International Space Station. Howard is usually seen working on equipment to be used in NASA missions and the
International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...
, though many times he is careless about it, and has "access" to high-tech surveillance and NASA gear. In the first episode, Howard mentioned working on the design of a satellite that orbits a moon of
Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...
taking high-resolution photos. Having worked on the Mars rover project, he invited his date, 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 and get the rover out of the ditch. When this proved unsuccessful, he decided to erase the hard drives of the facility and destroy all the files connected to his treachery to cover up his meddling, only to later find out that the rover had discovered the first clear signs of life on Mars. The rover incident was kept a close secret, until the season 4 episode "The Apology Insufficiency", when he made it onto a new team for the Defense Department's laser-equipped surveillance satellite but was not granted a security clearance and was taken out of the team after Sheldon revealed the rover incident to an investigating
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
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 (the toilet would backfire after 10 flushes) and again sought the help of his friends to correct it. The solution proved unsuccessful and an incident on the station ensued (Raj referred to this as the "zero-gravity human-waste ''distribution'' system"). The end of the episode showed the ISS astronauts leaving the station for an "unscheduled" space walk. This leads to Sheldon describing his work as being a "space plumber". Howard likely has the most hands-on and mechanical aptitude of the four: being the
engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...
among his
physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...
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 the 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 for masturbation, only to get the arm stuck on his penis. He called Leonard and Raj, but neither was 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 if he restarted the program. 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 pleasure himself again and ended up in the same predicament. Howard visited the International Space Station as a
Payload Specialist A payload specialist (PS) was an individual selected and trained by commercial or research organizations for flights of a specific payload on a NASA Space Shuttle mission. People assigned as payload specialists included individuals selected by t ...
on Expedition 31. He has the unwanted astronaut nickname "Froot Loops" (he had wanted the nickname "Rocket Man" and to that end installed the ringtone for Elton John's song " Rocket Man", but astronaut Mike Massimino overheard Howard's mother telling Howard that his Froot Loops were getting soggy during a NASA Skype conversation and pinned that nickname on him). At first, NASA cancelled his flight, to Howard's great relief, but then the mission was moved up, causing Howard and Bernadette to move up their wedding. A very nervous Howard is launched into space. His sixth-season experience is not great since his fellow astronauts play tricks on him and he starts to experience panic attacks. Upon his return to Earth, he gets an underwhelming response from his friends, and his only consolation is a free slice of cheesecake at a restaurant. He spends the remainder of the season boasting about his trip, to the irritation of everyone. Sheldon eventually sets him straight by denying being envious of him going to space, since "monkeys went to space"; by season 12, Bernadette has, with Stuart's help, written a children's book called ''The Frightened Little Astronaut'' based on Howard's experiences in space, much to his chagrin. In Season 10, Howard along with Leonard and Sheldon are recruited by the US Air Force to develop a Quantum Guidance System which is based on the Superfluid Vacuum theory Leonard and Sheldon published earlier during Season 8. Although not without complications or delays, the three were able to complete their prototype only for the US Air Force to confiscate their project for further development. Howard and Amy collaborated on her neuroprosthetics project in Season 11. In Season 11 (2017), Howard, Leonard, and Raj find out that they mined Bitcoin in 2010, seven years ago. With the increase in the cost of Bitcoin, Howard hopes this money will allow him to buy things and leave work at the university. However, after Stuart finds Leonard's Batman thumb drive containing the Bitcoin and erases the thumb drive in 2013, Howard and the gang have no money left.


Family

Until his marriage, Howard was noted for still living with his overbearing mother (Debbie/ Mrs Wolowitz), who is selectively oblivious to his accomplishments as an adult and usually treats him like he is still a child, filling the cliché of a Jewish mother. Once, Leonard stated that Howard "was in a pretty serious relationship – with his mom". Howard is an only child. Howard's wife is Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz. Mrs. Wolowitz (voiced by
Carol Ann Susi Carol Ann Susi (February 2, 1952 – November 11, 2014) was an American actress whose career spanned 40 years. Her best known roles were probably her first and last; she debuted as the recurring character of semi-competent but likable intern Mo ...
) is not shown on screen until season 5, the final episode "The Countdown Reflection" and later in season 6 episode " The Spoiler Alert Segmentation". 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 at him in an obnoxious manner, which results in awkward long-distance conversations, with Howard yelling back at her in a frustrated manner. 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 is accustomed to being "mothered" to some extent. In "The Apology Insufficiency", Sheldon observes that Howard seems to have "an unresolved
Oedipus complex In classical psychoanalytic theory, the Oedipus complex is a son's sexual attitude towards his mother and concomitant hostility toward his father, first formed during the phallic stage of psychosexual development. A daughter's attitude of desire ...
". Following the death of Carol Ann Susi, it was decided Mrs. Wolowitz would die in the season 8 episode "The Comic Book Store Regeneration". Howard receives a phone call while in the comic book store from his aunt Gladys in Florida, whom Mrs. Wolowitz had gone to visit. She says that she laid down for a nap and never woke up. In "The Precious Fragmentation", Howard reveals that his father left his family when Howard was eleven years old. 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 eleven again, asking him to find his father and bring him home. This causes Penny (who usually avoids Howard and is disgusted by him) to be pitiful and (reluctantly) sympathetic. In "The Shiny Trinket Maneuver", it is mentioned that the birthday party where he did his magic show was his cousin's party but it is unknown who his cousin was in the group of children that were present. In "The Closet Reconfiguration", Howard gets a letter from his father which is the first contact that he gets from his father in the series.
Rick Moranis Frederick Allan Moranis (; born April 18, 1953) is a Canadian actor, comedian, musician, producer, songwriter and writer. Moranis appeared in the sketch comedy series '' Second City Television'' (''SCTV'') in the 1980s and starred afterward in s ...
and
Martin Short Martin Hayter Short (born March 26, 1950) is a Canadian and American comedian, actor, and writer. Short is known as an energetic comedian who gained prominence for his roles in sketch comedy. He has also acted in numerous films and television ...
were considered to portray Howard's father, but the producers wanted
Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...
for the role. Starr's team declined and it was decided not to have him appear physically in the show. In "The Fortification Implementation", it is revealed that his father's first name is Sam, and that he fathered another child, Josh ( Matt Bennett), who is Howard's half-brother. While at first upset at the notion that his father went on to have another family, Howard bonds with Josh when the latter shows admiration for his journey to space and possesses a lecherous nature similar to his original one. During season 9 it is revealed that Howard and Bernadette are expecting a baby. Their daughter, Halley, was born on Amy Farrah Fowler's birthday (season 10, episode "The Birthday Synchronicity") in December. As of season 11, they are expecting another baby, this time a son, to whom Howard is desperately nervous about bonding: in "The Neonatal Nomenclature", their son is born, and after a lot of dispute (initially due to Bernadette picking a name before he was born), is named Neil (for Armstrong, Gaiman, and
Diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...
) Michael (after Bernadette's father).


Relationships

In the early seasons, Howard was consistently depicted as the most perverted of the guys. For example, he develops a mathematical formula for the likelihood of his having relations by applying and modifying the
Drake equation The Drake equation is a probability theory, probabilistic argument used to estimate the number of active, communicative extraterrestrial life, extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy.Physics Today 14 (4), 40–46 (1961). The e ...
to include the "Wolowitz coefficient", which he defines as "neediness times dress size squared". When questioned if he is serious, he states, "I'm a horny engineer...I never joke about math or sex". Howard's techniques in approaching women are varied, including magic and card tricks. Along with Leonard and Raj, Howard also attempts to woo Missy, Sheldon's twin sister. His offer is not accepted, although it was clear she was waiting for Raj.
Katee Sackhoff Katee Sackhoff (born April 8, 1980) is an American actress known for being Lieutenant Kara "Starbuck" Thrace on ''Battlestar Galactica'' (2004–2009), Niko Breckenridge on '' Another Life'' (2019–2021), Victoria "Vic" Moretti on '' Longmire' ...
appears as herself in "The Vengeance Formulation", where she is fantasized as Howard's dream girl. She appears again in season 4, in the same role. In the beginning of the series, Howard shows an interest in Penny, but the interest is primarily sexual and she always rejects him. After yet another approach by Howard, Penny finally confronts him about the way he treats women, giving a brutal assessment of him from the woman's point of view. This greatly affects Howard and he falls into a depression, missing work and staying home. When Penny apologizes, Howard tells her about his past relationships and Penny shows some sympathy for him; after her comforting words, Howard tries to kiss her, but she reacts by breaking his nose. With the situation resolved, Penny believes they have come to an "understanding", but Howard instead thinks he was merely "half-way to pity sex" with her. In the first season, he forms a sexual relationship with Christy, a friend of Penny's from Omaha but it quickly becomes apparent that Christy is materialistic and using Howard, ultimately resulting in her leaving after getting into an argument with Howard's mother. During the second season, he goes on a date with Stephanie Barnett but fails to form a relationship with her as she chooses to date Leonard instead. While they did fall out, they quickly made up when Stephanie promised to introduce Howard to an attractive friend. Howard later engages in a "friends with benefits" relationship with Leslie Winkle, which brings him a few benefits besides sex. However, he still becomes depressed when Leslie leaves him sometime later. In order to cheer him up, Leonard and Raj take Howard to Las Vegas and manage to hire a prostitute for him. When the guys travel by train to a symposium in
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
, Howard gets a chance to talk to Summer Glau (portraying herself). His clumsy attempts at impressing the actress fail, despite he being in a confined environment with her for several hours. During a camping trip with Leonard and Raj, in which they all get stoned by eating cookies laced with a drug (likely marijuana), Howard reveals he lost his virginity to his
second cousin A cousin is a relative who is the child of a parent's sibling; this is more specifically referred to as a first cousin. A parent of a first cousin is an aunt or uncle. More generally, in the kinship system used in the English-speaking world, ...
Jeanie after his uncle's funeral. This fact prompts incessant teasing from Leonard and Raj. In "The Prom Equivalency", Stuart brings Jeanie as a date causing Howard to fight with him on the car ride there. Despite Howard being undeniably obsessed with women, some believe him to be in a romantic relationship with Raj. The belief is proposed by Dr. Beverly Hofstadter, Leonard's mother, who believes them to be in an "ersatz homosexual marriage". Both Howard's and Raj's parents are aware of this; when Howard asks his mother if Bernadette can stay over, she clearly states she cannot say no when Bernadette is "willing to give the milk away for free". She concludes her statement by saying "Frankly, after all your sleepovers with the little brown boy, a girl is a big relief", while Raj's mother stated "the closest thing we have to a daughter-in-law is that Jewish boy Howard!" Raj and Howard have several arguments during the series, in which Raj repeatedly accuses Howard of leaving him for everyone who is only slightly better-looking, makes it appear that Raj assumes the cliché female role in partnership arguments; Howard frequently mocks him for such responses. However, Raj and Howard's relationship is mostly close: the duo reconcile almost immediately after going through tiffs. Raj often whispers comments to Howard when Penny is in the room, which allows him an avenue of communication, given Raj's chronic inability to speak to women (although he was cured from it at the end of the sixth season). In season 10's "The Emotion Detection Automaton", Howard tells Raj that if they are both unattached in the next thirty years, he would be open to the two of them having a relationship. In the middle of the third season, Howard is introduced to Bernadette Rostenkowski (
Melissa Rauch Melissa Ivy Rauch (; born June 23, 1980) is an American actress. She is best known for playing Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz on the CBS sitcom ''The Big Bang Theory'' from 2009 to 2019, for which she was nominated for the Critics Choice ...
) by Penny. A waitress paying her way through graduate school for microbiology studies. At first, she and Howard do not get along, as they appear to have nothing in common. However, when they find out they both have overbearing mothers they immediately feel a connection. They are particularly pleased that it could enrage both Howard's Jewish mother and Bernadette's Catholic mother to find out their kids are dating. They also note that they lost their virginity in Toyota-made vehicles. Subsequently, Howard realizes Bernadette represents a real opportunity to develop a lasting relationship and, in an impulsive manner, he proposes to her. Although Bernadette rejects his offer, they remain a couple for some time. There is often a running gag between Leonard and Howard mocking Raj for still being single. In "The Plimpton Stimulation", Howard briefly mentions that he and Bernadette broke up a couple of weeks earlier, but did not mention it since he "was waiting for the right time". It is later revealed that the relationship ended because Bernadette caught Howard engaging in cybersex with "Glacinda the Troll" on ''
World of Warcraft ''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a 2004 massively multiplayer online role-playing (MMORPG) video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment for Windows and Mac OS X. Set in the '' Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of War ...
'', who is later revealed to be played by a male employee of the university (Steve Patterson, "The greasy old fat guy in Facilities Management"). By the end of the episode, the two discuss their problems and restart their relationship from the beginning. This marks a fundamental shift in Howard's character, as he stops pursuing random women and focuses solely on his new relationship. Season 4 introduces Howard's "latent homosexual tendencies" when
George Takei George Takei ( ; born April20, 1937), born , is an American actor, author and activist known for his role as Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the USS ''Enterprise'' in the ''Star Trek'' franchise. Takei was born to Japanese-American parents, with w ...
appears as himself in an imaginary conversation with Bernadette and Katee Sackhoff over his relationship status with Bernadette and his erotic fantasies with fictional characters, which is a reminder of what Leonard's mother earlier says about the "ersatz homosexual marriage". In "The Herb Garden Germination", Howard once again proposes to Bernadette, this time in front of his friends. To the horrific dismay of Raj, who had developed feelings for Bernadette, she accepts. During their engagement, Bernadette is awarded her doctorate degree and reveals that she has gotten a job at a pharmaceutical company which promises a "buttload of money". Although he claims to have supported her new career, Howard's friends mock him for not having a doctorate, with Penny calling the others doctors then remarking that Howard knows a lot of doctors. The situation reaches its breaking point when he and Bernadette have an argument after she buys him a Rolex, which he interprets as a sign that she will be the main breadwinner; more recently, he appears to be more accepting of that situation, since (after falling out over the idea of starting a family) they have discussed that if they have children, he will probably become a stay-at-home dad while she continues to work (a possibility they revisit in season 11 prior to and immediately after the birth of their son). The souring of relations grows worse when he learns that in addition to almost having sex with Penny, Raj was writing love poems and fantasizing about Bernadette and him, which leads to Howard distrusting Bernadette and believing that she may cheat on him with Raj. At his bachelor party, an inebriated Raj describes Howard losing his virginity to his second cousin, his Las Vegas prostitute experience, and their threesome with an
overweight Being overweight is having more body fat than is optimally healthy. Being overweight is especially common where food supplies are plentiful and lifestyles are sedentary. , excess weight reached epidemic proportions globally, with more than ...
Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's Shōjo manga, ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 60 individual chapters (later reorganized into ...
cosplay Cosplay, a blend word of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and Fashion accessory, fashion accessories to represent a specific Character (arts), character. Cosplayers often i ...
er at
Comic-Con A comic book convention or comic con is a fan convention emphasizing comic books and comic book culture, in which comic book Fan (person), fans gather to meet creators, experts, and each other. Commonly, comic conventions are multi-day events h ...
. Wil Wheaton films the whole speech and posts it online. Bernadette picks them up and is furious after seeing the video and is wondering how she can marry a man that she doesn't seem to know, though she does forgive him after he gives an enrapturing apology for Penny to transfer, which sends her into tears. Bernadette later tells Howard that she wants to be married to him before he is launched into space. After an aborted attempt to be married at city hall before it closed, they agree to be married on the roof of the apartment building. Bernadette is escorted down the aisle by her father and is married by Raj, Leonard, Penny, Sheldon and Amy who all became ministers for the occasion. The ceremony is photographed by an orbiting satellite for the Google Earth website. In season 6, the newlyweds do have some bumps including Howard readjusting to being back on earth, moving out of his mother's house, and spending too much on his collectibles hobby, but they continued to grow a steady relationship together, until season 7's "The Discovery Dissipation", when Raj briefly moves in with them. During this time, Raj's kindness and helpful nature inadvertently reveal that Howard and Bernadette's relationship has deteriorated to the extent that they no longer pay attention to each other, but they insist that they are content with merely "half-assing" their way through their marriage. However, during season 9, when the two were expecting their first baby, they appeared to have repaired their relationship till Howard started being worried about his parenting capacity. In season 7, Howard and Bernadette have a double date with Raj and his girlfriend Emily ( Laura Spencer). Howard instantly recognizes her and it is revealed that he and Emily previously went on a blind date. Due to an upset stomach caused by gas station sushi, Howard used and subsequently clogged Emily's toilet. Because the toilet overflowed all over Emily's bathroom floor and Howard was unsuccessful in cleaning it up, he was extremely embarrassed and climbed out the bathroom window. Howard apologized to Emily, to which she responds that it's okay and she and her friends refer to him as "Clogzilla". Amy Farrah Fowler is shown to be one of the few women that Howard has had a platonic relationship with. Prior to the events "The Scavenger Vortex", Howard and Amy are said to have little one-on-one interaction with each other, partly because Penny warned her about Howard's previously perverted nature. During the episode, Howard and Amy are randomly paired-up to take part in a scavenger hunt organized by Raj, much to the former's relief due to Bernadette's competitiveness, and subsequently bond over their mutual love of
Neil Diamond Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling musicians of all time. He has written and ...
's music, even agreeing to attend one of his concerts together and performing his songs at the Cheesecake Factory. However, in "The Fermentation Bifurcation", when they both arrive early for a wine tasting session, they make awkward small talk and are relieved when the rest of their party arrives.


See also

* List of ''The Big Bang Theory'' episodes *
Eric Cartman Eric Theodore Cartman, commonly referred to as just Cartman, is a fictional character in the adult animated sitcom ''South Park'', created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. He is voiced by Parker, and is one of the series' four main characters, ...
, from ''
South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand the ...
''


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolowitz, Howard The Big Bang Theory characters American male characters in sitcoms Fictional American Jews Fictional American scientists and engineers Fictional characters from Pasadena, California Fictional engineers Fictional NASA astronauts Fictional scientists in television Television characters introduced in 2007 Culture of the United States