California Institute of Technology

The California Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Caltech) is a private research university in Pasadena, California where most of the main characters of The Big Bang Theory work. Caltech operates the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

As of The Jerusalem Duality, the physics research facility doesn't have an open science grid computer or a free-electron laser. By The Friendship Algorithm and The Euclid Alternative, Caltech acquires this new equipment. Benefactor Mrs. Latham donates millions of dollars to the physics department to get a cryogenic centrifugal pump and molecular sieve, while Sheldon expresses a need for a new linear accelerator. Other machines owned by the department include a 500 kW oxygen-iodine laser, a helium-neon laser, an electron accelerator, and a mainframe in Buckman 204. The physics facilities include a radiation lab, a plasma lab, a kinetics lab, and a photomultiplier lab. Aside from the physics laboratories, there is a primate lab and a chem lab with micro-porous charcoal.

The head of the university is President Siebert.

Common Locations
The Cafeteria

The Cafeteria has been seen on numerous episodes and is commonly where the guys get lunch or chat while at Caltech. It has a set of doors on the right side of the room with a food bar on the left side. There are 3 vending machines on the right side wall of the room. There are also around 20+ tables. A poster for The Journal of Chemical Physics is sometimes visible in the cafeteria.

Sheldon's Office Sheldon's office is seen in many episodes as well. It is to the right of the Lecture Hall and to the left of A1 - A5. The plaque on his door initially reads: SHELDON COOPER (followed by) Ph.D. PARTICLE THEORY. However, it is later changed to: SHELDON COOPER, PhD. (followed by) PARTICLE THEORY. It features Sheldon's desk, a series of book shelves and about 5 - 10 white boards. It is also Raj's office after he begins to work with Sheldon, with a paper banner (later a plaque) on the door underneath Sheldon's plaque: RAJESH KOOTHRAPPALI, PhD. The room also has Sheldon's Stevenson Award, framed near the door inside (the certificate is signed incorrectly Sheldon Lee Cooper, Ph.D., as he had not yet received a doctorate when he was the recipient). The poster FUNDAMENTAL PARTICLES AND INTERACTIONS, which has also been seen around the cafeteria and the experimental physics lab, is on the wall opposing his room.

Rajesh's Office Raj's office, before he receives Fishbine's large office or shares Sheldon's office, is the smallest seen thus far. Aside from the two desks, a cabinet, model rockets, a green chalk board, and two bookshelves fill the space. The plaque on the door reads: RAJESH KOOTHRAPPALI (followed by) Ph. D. ASTRO PHYSICS. To the right of his door is a poster for a colloquium in Budapest, Hungary entitled Astroparticle Physics Current Issues, 2007.

The Experimental Physics Lab The Lab where Leonard and Leslie Winkle work is a larger room (a tad smaller than the cafeteria) and has a series of tables. This Lab has been shown in The Fuzzy Boots Corollary. Both the Fundamental Particles and Interactions and Astroparticle Physics posters can be seen on the wall.

Leonard's Lab

Leonard's own lab appears in The Gorilla Experiment and The Irish Pub Formulation with a white board, computer monitors, and experimental equipment such as an electron accelerator.

Engineering Lab

Engineering is where Howard works. It's only been shown once (in The Jerusalem Duality) when Sheldon visits. It has white walls and has a row of desks with Howard's in front of the others. It also has numerous posters of physics and engineering on the walls.

Howard's Lab

Howard's personal lab (seen in The Infestation Hypothesis), in the Department of Applied Physics, possesses a $175,000 hydraulic thermoforming press, tool cabinets (one with a NASA picture), a desk, and various equipment including an oxy-acetylene torch.

Mars Rover Lab



The Mars Rover lab has only been shown once, when Howard got the Mars Rover stuck in a ditch. The guys tried to fix it, but settled on erasing the data tapes, grabbing the security camera tapes, wiping their fingerprints from all the surfaces and running.

Leslie Winkle's Lab

Leslie's lab is seen in The Hamburger Postulate. She uses a 500 kW oxygen-iodine laser to heat ramen noodles and liquid nitrogen to break up a banana in this room.

Eric Gablehauser's Office

The Head of the Physics Department (Professor Eric Gablehauser) has a larger office than Sheldon's. It's only been shown in a few episodes so far.

Professor Laughlin's Office Professor Laughlin's office is observed once in The Pirate Solution when Rajesh is interviewed by the British astronomer for a chance to join his stellar evolution research team. The plaque on the door reads: PROF. IAN LAUGHLIN, PhD. (followed by) ASTRONOMY. His office is furnished with several astronomical posters featuring supernova remnants and planetary atmospheres, celestial and planetary globes, an astrolabe, an orerry, a small bronze telescope replica, a wooden bookcase with science books and an antique Dollond telescope, wooden lockboxes, metal filing cabinets, cushioned chairs, a wooden desk with a computer, and a window. Precariously, it also contains an area atop a table with a silver platter and copita for pouring a sherry, of which there are two selections.

Professor Crawley's Lab Professor Crawley's lab was only shown once, it has rows of tables with glass cages on them featuring all kinds of different insects, bugs and arachnids. Professor Crawley was forced to leave the lab when his funding was cut off to go live with his daughter in Oxnard. So it's unknown what is of the lab today (however its strongly suggested that the Physics Department took over the Lab after he left).