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"I'm a horny engineer, Leonard. I never joke about math or sex."
―Howard Wolowitz, The Hofstadter Isotope

Howard Joel Wolowitz, M.Eng., is a main character in The Big Bang Theory. He is a Jewish aerospace engineer and ex-astronaut. He is the son of an overbearing mother, Debbie Wolowitz, who cares very little about his scientific accomplishments and still talks to him as if he were a child, and Sam Wolowitz who left him and his mother. As the best friend of Rajesh Koothrappali, Howard often hangs out at Leonard and Sheldon's apartment with him. Though he's the only member of the group lacking a doctoral degree, he defends himself by pointing out that he not only has a master's degree in engineering from MIT, but also designs important inventions like the "space toilet" and telescope used at the International Space Station and components for satellites and space probes.

Fancying himself a smooth ladies' man, Howard is (unlike the other three) rather confident in trying to woo girls, mostly through creepy overtures and sometimes with his knowledge of foreign languages, of which he knows seven (if you count Klingon). During the show, he dates and eventually marries Bernadette, with whom he bonded over their dislike towards their overbearing mothers and who influenced him to tone down his creepy behavior. Much later, the couple have a daughter named Halley Wolowitz and a son named Neil Michael Wolowitz.


Biography

Early life (Before the show)

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Howard at 10 playing video games.

Howard was born in Pasadena sometime between March 1-September 30, 1981 to Sam and Debbie Wolowitz. When Howard was in kindergarten, his mother made him wear rubber gloves there so he wouldn't pick up a disease from the other children. When Howard was 11, his father left for an unknown reason and Howard spent his adolescence looking out of the window waiting for him to return one day, but he never did. Howard's childhood was not only lonely, but he was also bullied back then, with one of his bullies being Scott Kapinski. Howard never lived at home since he went off to college and got a bachelor's degree and a master's degree from MIT. After getting his master's degree in engineering he moved back home or forced to when he got his aerospace engineering job in CalTech. Where met Leonard Hofstadter and Rajesh Koothrappali in Caltech in 2003. This is where they formed the social group. They eventually met Sheldon Cooper when Leonard became his roommate. Howard hated him because of how stuck up he was, but when Sheldon saved them for an experiment going wrong, he and the gang tolerated him more.

Season 1

Howard meets Leonard and Sheldon's new neighbour Penny and Howard unsuccessfully attempts to interest her. Howard's seen singing in the car as he, Leonard, Penny, Sheldon and Raj go to dinner. (Pilot)

Howard meets Penny's cousin Christy Vanderbel and they start a relationship, causing Penny issues. Penny later gives Howard a furious glare upon learning he and Christy were making a mess with her stuff. Eventually, Howard's forced to go back with the guys, who were fighting over Sheldon's difficult nature now that Wolowitz wasn't with them. The episode ends with the guys playing Halo on Halo Night. (The Dumpling Paradox)

Howard gets a call from Leonard that Sheldon's sick. Sheldon calls Howard, who pretends to be his mother wondering why he's calling at this "ungodly hour". Howard tells Leonard he forgot to put in the protocol post Sheldon's ear infection in 2006. They meet with Raj for a film, though Leonard drops his glasses and Howard accidentally steps on them. Raj And Howard back Leonard up for getting his spare glasses, though Penny catches Leonard and Howard and Raj ditch him. The episode ends with Leonard injured and Sheldon sick, while Penny's mad at them for all the stress they caused her. (The Pancake Batter Anomaly)

Sheldon takes out all the fun and challenge in The Physics Bowl Quiz, leading Howard, Raj and Leonard to remove Sheldon from the team. They recruit Sheldon's arch-nemesis Leslie Winkle to be their fourth member to back them up against Sheldon's team. Howard gets two warnings for his inappropriate comments in the contest, which he and his team win once Sheldon's pride gets the best of him. (The Bat Jar Conjecture)

Sheldon's Sister Comes to visit and all the guys wanna hang out with her. Sheldon makes Leonard a deal to sleep with Missy, which Missy and Penny catch. The guys all compete over her, though all efforts to hang out with her are either unwanted or ineffective. (The Porkchop Indeterminacy)

Howard And Leonard watch Sheldon Vs Raj in a match of Tetris and arm wrestling at once where they have a stalemate. Penny tells them to stop and she learns Leonard's never had a party. She plans a party for Leonard and Howard displeases Penny, as usual. When Howard and Raj come to prepare for the party, Howard tells Penny to tell Sheldon getting gifts for friends on their birthday's a non optional social convention. Howard risks his life to help Leonard get to his party as a surprise, though they end up late. Penny Tells Leonard to remind her to introduce her friend Carol to Howard near the end of the episode. (The Peanut Reaction)

Season 2

Howard and Raj spy on Leonard's date with Penny, which Sheldon tells Leonard they took advantage of his disinterest. Sheldon, in an effort to keep a secret for Penny, moves in with Howard once Raj kicks him out. Howard finds Sheldon too stressful himself and gives Sheldon some funny tasting milk prior to returning him to Leonard. As a result of the milk Howard gave Sheldon, he unintentionally reveals Penny's secret to Leonard. (The Bad Fish Paradigm)

Howard helps create M.O.N.T.E. as the main designer of the robot. He talks to Penny, who snaps at him for frequently disturbing her and making sexual comments regarding her, sending Howard into a period of distress. Leonard makes her apologize and she has a talk with Howard for a bit, til he wishes to kiss her and she breaks his nose. He finds Barry Kripke's robot defeated M.O.N.T.E and says there's 0 way to repair him. Sheldon himself falls into distress cause of Penny too once she says the robot's just a toy. (The Killer Robot Instability)

Howard designs the Wolowitz Zero-Gravity Waste Disposal System and finds out the toilet will malfunction. He recruits his friends for help and lets Leonard go cause he's upset over how he made an effort to sabotage Stuart's date with Penny. When the meatloaf falls from the ceiling, Howard says the situation with said food's classified. (The Classified Materials Turbulence)

Season 3

Howard and Sheldon make Leonard mad when they inappropriately discuss Leonard and Penny's sex life in front of them. As they eat with Raj, the two men have a bet and are very competitive with each other. While in the cafeteria, Leonard comes in distress from a terrible night and his friends ditch him to settle which one of them is right about the cricket. Eventually, they meet Professor Crawley who confirms Howard's right about the cricket and Howard wins Sheldon's comic book. (The Jiminy Conjecture)

Howard and the guys are going kite fighting and once in a position to win with Raj, Howard gets distracted by a girl he thought smiled at him, winning Sheldon and Leonard the match and costing Raj his precious Patang fighting kite to Sheldon, leading Raj and Howard to a temporary rift in their friendship. Howard spends most of the episode wishing to reunite with Raj, which he does once he takes Raj to the tar pits. The episode ends with Howard chasing a girl once Raj said she smiled at him, to which Raj calls Howard a douche.

Howard and his new partner Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz go on a double date with Leonard and Penny, which gets uncomfortable for Howard and Bernadette when Leonard starts disrespecting Penny for believing in psychics. Penny's finding things ironic that Leonard could be more obnoxious than Howard, as she wasn't very fond of him at the time for having made many creepy and inappropriate comments regarding her. Howard then has a talk with Leonard in his lab. (The Psychic Vortex)

Howard gets irritated with Raj's speaker t-shirt, as does Leonard while in The Comic Center of Pasadena. Howard finds a summons from the Pasadena (City) court in Sheldon's drawer and Sheldon gets mad at Penny for her instructions the night she broke her arm, leading the guys to miss Stan Lee in Stuart's store. Leonard comments they won't all miss him in the store, as the other 3 guys will be going to see Stuart and Stan. Howard correctly predicts Sheldon's going to jail and cuts the line when Raj starts complaining. He, Stuart, Stan and Leonard all go for Gelato without Raj, who made a scene with Stan. Eventually, Howard gets irritated with Raj's complaints too and Sheldon proudly comes back home with a restraining order from Stan, who had him escorted out of his house by the police. (The Excelsior Acquisition)

Howard and Raj blackmail Sheldon into having a date with his future wife, Amy Farrah Fowler. They found her on a dating site earlier and take Sheldon to meet her in a coffee shop. Eventually however, Howard and Raj find regret in uniting the two. (The Lunar Excitation)

Season 4

In the season premiere, Howard's operating his new robot and uses the hand to give Sheldon the middle finger early in the episode. Sheldon mentions he has plans to have kids with Amy, much to his friends' surprise. While using the robot hand in an effort to masturbate, Howard's penis gets trapped in the hand and he calls Leonard and Raj for help. They take him to the hospital where Howard's unhappy that Althea Davis mentions to the whole hospital that the robot hand's grasping his penis. His penis is free and Howard's relived, though shortly post Sheldon changing his mind about having kids once Penny threatens to tell on him, Leonard learns from Howard during a phone call that Howard's penis got stuck once more.

Howard and his friends are having a science conference in San Francisco. During the trip, Howard meets Bernadette's friend, ex-boyfriend and former professor Glenn, who Howard finds has an intimidating height. Howard feels doubtful of himself and starts acting unpleasantly in front of Bernadette, leading her and everyone else to not wanna spend the night with him. During the science conference, the unhappy group starts arguing and on the way back home, Sheldon decides to play I-Spy as a grumpy Howard and Bernadette are in the car with a hungover Raj. What Sheldon saw was the aluminum rims on a police car Leonard passed, implying Leonard's getting pulled over for speeding. (The Love Car Displacement)

Season 5

Howard is upset when he finds out Bernadette doesn't like children, but in the end she agrees to have kids with him if he becomes a stay-at-home-dad while she works ("The Shiny Trinket Maneuver"). Howard is thrown a bachelor party and his impending wedding is almost ruined when a drunken Raj reveals Howard's secret sexual history which upsets Bernadette. Howard apologizes that his old self is gone and that he is now a better man, because of Bernadette ("The Stag Convergence"). Howard and Bernadette get married on the roof of The Apartment Building with all 5 of their friends, ordained as ministers to marry them. He then takes off to outer space from Russia with his friends and new wife watching ("The Countdown Reflection").

Season 6

While in space, Bernadette forces Howard to tell his mother that he's gonna be moving out, Howard returns from space and can't stop talking about his time in it, finally gets a real car and moves out of his mother's house to live with Bernadette, his wife.

Season 7

Raj says he's having a scavenger hunt and has the rest of the group in teams. While teaming with Amy, they lose focus on the game and gain focus on their interest in Neil Diamond. Howard drives and they sing Neil's song America. The episode ends with Howard and Amy singing Neil Diamond karaoke. (The Scavenger Vortex)

Howard starts picking on Raj for his feminine ways during a discussion with the guys. During a Jewelry night, Howard's continued disrespect of Raj leads Raj to make an unkind impersonation of Howard and they talk about how Howard's jokes can sometimes hurt. Raj Gives Howard a gift to make up for his behaviour, which Howard likes til he sees the gift's sexually suggestive. The episode ends with Penny and Professor Proton bonding. (The Proton Displacement)

Sheldon's on vacation and the group spends Christmas holidays imagining their lives without him. Howard's imagination's 1 where his mother's a skeleton, to which Penny wonders if she died naturally or cause of Howard, which Howard implies the latter. Stuart's frequently excluded from stories and does his best to be in them. The episode ends with Stuart eating solo and depressed. (The Cooper Extraction)

Howard's mother has an accident and Leonard announces he and Penny are engaged, to which their friends congratulate them. Howard and Bernadette struggle to find a caretaker for her and Penny quits on Howard's mother very fast. Howard finds Stuart's store burnt down and gives him a chance to take care of Debbie. The Wolowitz couple finally succeeds in their quest to find a caretaker. (The Status Quo Combustion)

Season 8

While Stuart's comic book store is getting rebuilt, Howard gets a phone call from his aunt. Howard learns that his mother died in her sleep while in Florida, leaving him devastated. He is then comforted by Bernadette and their friends. Later that night, he and Bernadette leave for Florida for the funeral ("The Comic Book Store Regeneration").

While preparing for a dinner with the group as a last toast for Mrs. Wolowitz, Leonard finds that only his name was on a paper for a project that he and Sheldon worked on together. During the dinner, Leonard and Sheldon have a fight and Leonard threatens to throw food at Sheldon, leading Bernadette to call them out of the kitchen for a chat. Howard, who isn't even mad notices Bernadette sounds like his late mother when she's mad, while the others don't and the episode ends with Leonard and Sheldon done their feud.

While having dinner with Raj, Howard tells him he shouldn't break up with Emily cause she's willing to have sex with him. Howard and Bernadette want Stuart to leave their house, though never manage to tell him to his face. They find out the day's Stuart's birthday and let him stay with a cupcake. (The Commitment Determination)

Season 9

Howard and Raj form a band for Stuart's comic book store. They play their first song about what would happen if Thor and Indiana Jones were to fight. Bernadette learns that she's pregnant. The episode ends with Stuart complaining the listeners can't dance to the song. (The 2003 Approximation)

Sheldon's declares his illness is done and he's returning to work soon, to which Howard joins an unenthusiastic Leonard in giving Sheldon sarcastic pleasure once Howard says "Glad to hear it" with a frown and unhappy tone. Even Raj's "Yay" to Sheldon's sarcastic. They remind Sheldon he wasn't too kind to his friends, which Amy helps him see in her brief time in the episode. Sheldon tells Howard and Bernadette he's sorry, though once they get t-shirts from him, they're not pleased. On the way to Las Vegas, Howard and Stuart look at each other with weirded out faces as Raj has fun with the girls. (The Empathy Optimization)

While making plans to go to a film screening, Sheldon mentions he has to run errands with Amy and Howard suggests he pay Stuart to do them for him while Sheldon goes with the guys. Sheldon eventually has to do things personally, as Amy rejects Stuart in everything. When Trevor, a guy going to the same film screening goes to join his friends, Sheldon makes a scene and Howard comments he felt Raj's chair was what would get the guys beaten up. The episode ends with Bernadette smiling as she hears Howard interviewing himself. (The Line Substitution Solution)

In the season finale, Howard shortly post completing his working guidance system gets an email from the U.S Air Force wanting to discuss Howard's new invention. Howard starts to panic, thinking the military will take over the project. Howard drives Bernadette and Raj when a car starts following them, scaring a paranoid Howard into speeding. He's pulled over by a cop and Penny calls to know where the 3 are. Bernadette says they're gonna be a while and is frustrated with Howard for the issues he's caused with a cop.

Season 10

Howard's unhappy he got a 500$ ticket for speeding and Raj is requested by Colonel Richard Williams to have Howard call him. Howard starts to panic more as a result of this and calls Richard, who refuses to discuss the purpose of the meeting and decides to meet Howard in Caltech on Thursday. Near the end of the episode, Howard goes to Leonard and Penny's 2nd wedding ceremony, which Bernadette officiates and yells at Howard while doing so when he tells Raj he's happy she's yelling at someone else for once. (The Conjugal Conjecture)

Howard goes to the hospital with his wife, Stuart and Raj once Bernadette's due to give birth. Howard tells the nurse he doesn't know how far apart the contractions are, to which Raj says 12 minutes. Back at home, Raj reveals the baby's a girl, angering Howard and Bernadette, especially learning he told Stuart. Stuart drives the married couple to the hospital while frustrating them with his old man like driving and the group, save the expecting couple learn the girl will share a birthday with Amy. Bernadette eventually gives birth to Halley Wolowitz, who sounds like Howard's late mother. Howard mentions earlier he wishes Debbie could be the best grandma to their daughter. (The Birthday Synchronicity)

Season 11

Howard receives the news of Sheldon's proposal which he then shares to Bernadette, who audibly says that she can't believe it, Howard mistakes her reaction to the proposal when it was actually on a positive pregnancy test, Halley's gonna be a sister! Bernadette delivers the news to Howard in the kitchen, an exchange of no's and yes's happens with them but Bernadette tells him that they're both responsible adults and that they can handle it. Howard asks whether she is sure about that which Bernadette replies with "No!" while she starts crying.(The Proposal Proposal)

Howard and Bernadette go the hospital for her sonogram, Bernadette tells Howard to get a vasectomy before they leave. The technician comes in and revea that their second baby is a boy, Howard and Bernadette aren't too excited about it. Later in apartment 4A, the gang express their feelings whether or not they can raise a boy. Raj, Howard, and Sheldon go through Howard's old model rockets, Sheldon finds the Saturn V model Howard's dad got him, Howard never wanted to use it and suggests he and Sheldon build it as a bonding experience, Sheldon doesn't think that's a positive. Howard and Sheldon drive out to launch the rocket, it ends up imploding itself which makes Howard sad, but gets a deep realization through Sheldon that he doesn't know anything about raising a girl nor a boy. Later, Howard lets Sheldon drive which results in them getting pulled over. (The Explosion Implosion)

Howard gets woken up by Bernadette who wants her labour to end, Howard tells Bernadette that it could be 2 weeks late which doesn't amuse her, Bernadette tells him that sex can induce labour, Howard volunteers to help. Howard finds out through Amy that Bernadette plans to name their son "Michael”, after her father. Howard confronts Bernadette but he is met by Bernadette telling him that she carried it for nine months, put on bed rest for four months, and she sacrificed her job for the kid. Howard and Bernadette discuss what they want to name him with both themselves and the gang. Later, they reveal that they named him "Neil Michael Wolowitz". (The Neonatal Nomenclature").

Howard meets Mark Hamill after finding his dog named "Bark Hamill" and gets him to officiate Sheldon and Amy's Wedding, he delivers the news to everybody but Sheldon to surprise him, but Wil Wheaton, who was originally supposed to officiate, is not happy about it while Sheldon is really happy about it. (The Bow Tie Asymmetry)

Season 12

In Wil Wheaton's last episode, Howard teases Sheldon for puking on William Shatner, who Sheldon says thinks the world of him. The guys find Stuart got in Wil's Dungeons & Dragons game and not them, which the girls know better the reason's cause the guys just wanna use Wil to get close to his celebrity friends. They confront Stuart and pressure him, causing him to quit the game. Leonard's in, though Wil removes him for mentioning to Penny who was there. When the guys beg Wil to let them in, he refuses. The girls are in and Wil sends the guys a pic with all his guests to taunt them, which Leonard says they deserve.

While having dinner with Bernadette and Raj, Raj wonders the reason they never eat in the dining room. Bernadette says that's for when they have company and Raj isn't company. When Raj reveals his plan to leave for London to marry Anu, his partner for a few months, Howard's shocked and wonders if Raj is an "Indian giver". When Raj's ready to leave, Howard goes to stop him and tells him to stay with his best friends who love him, telling him there's other ladies who'll love Raj and his dumb interests. Howard tells Raj he owes him 1300$, as Howard had to pay to get past security. Stuart leaves the Wolowitz House for good as he goes to live with Denise, his girlfriend and assistant as the episode ends. (The Maternal Conclusion)

Howard calls Sheldon to see if he and Amy won the Nobel Prize, which they haven't yet. While with Raj and Leonard, Raj wonders which hand of Leonard's slapped Sheldon and Leonard says his right, while mentioning spit came out of Sheldon's mouth. In President Siebert's last scene, he tells the guys to call Sheldon and Amy "quirky", as they've won the Nobel Prize. Siebert calls Howard bitter and envious when Howard makes a joke and the men call Sheldon quirky when he leaves Amy as the cafeteria applauds the winners. When Sheldon's too scared to talk to a reporter, Howard does and describes himself as Sheldon's best friend, agreeing to tell outer space stories in exchange for coffee. He gives the same plan for Bernadette to say she's Amy's best friend and they appear on the news to discuss how they helped Sheldon and Amy win. The episode ends with Sheldon riding The Elevator, upon finally getting fixing. (The Change Constant)

Howard mentions Halley's just went on the big girl potty and is confident she and Neil will be in good hands with Stuart and Denise. He and Bernadette mention they don't wanna miss Stuart's last or Neil's first words. They're excited to sleep a ton and go to Leonard and Penny's apartment to discuss travel rules. When the elevator can't fit all the luggage and people, Leonard sends the luggage down and they take the stairs. Sheldon compliments Leonard, who doesn't have much enthusiasm. While on the plane, Howard scares Bernadette and Raj thinks he saw Sarah Michelle Gellar. Sheldon insults Howard while Leonard's mad at him, leading Leonard to tell Sheldon "to hell with him and his Nobel Prize". Raj says that IS Buffy's actress he saw. In the hotel, Howard has a meltdown and Sheldon selfishly tells Howard this is his big day, leading Howard to decide to go home, with Leonard and Penny joining him and Bernadette. Amy calls Sheldon out on his treatment of his friends, leading Sheldon to change and for the first time, call Howard "Astronaut Howard Wolowitz" showing him respect for a rare time in years prior to calling Leonard and Penny his best friends on Earth. When he says he loves all his friends, Penny cries as the other four watch with neutral faces and the series ends with the seven friends having dinner. (The Stockholm Syndrome)

Career

Astronaut with actors

Expedition 31 crew members Howard Wolowitz (left), Dimitri Rezinov (center), and Mike Massimino (right) in a Soyuz capsule.

Howard is an aerospace engineer. He has worked in the astronautical engineering lab for three years as of the first season. He began working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Deep Space Operations Center prior to the series, and he has his own mechanical engineering lab. Howard designed a satellite which orbited Jupiter's largest moon taking high-resolution digital photographs and he remotely repairs satellites on a regular basis. He also troubleshoots space shuttle payloads. Some of the components he built are on the International Space Station, including a small payload support structure for a European science experimental package and the Wolowitz Programmable Hand designed for extravehicular repairs. He even performed a front-end alignment from 62 million miles away when a Mars rover started pulling to the left and managed to get a Mars rover stuck in a ditch, only to have the data which it sent back from the crevice contain the first clear indications that there may have been life on Mars. However, as co-designer of the Pishkin-Wolowitz Liquid Waste Disposal System and designer of the (albeit flawed) Wolowitz Zero-Gravity Waste Disposal System for the International Space Station, he doesn't get much respect.

Further, Howard is not credited for creating a stabilizing telescope camera mounting bracket for Raj and failed to make the team for the new Defense Department laser-equipped surveillance satellite since he was denied the requisite security clearance. In "The Russian Rocket Reaction", NASA selected his team's design for a deep field space telescope that will be installed on the International Space Station, granting him the opportunity to fly aboard a Soyuz Rocket to deploy it on the space station as a payload specialist for Expedition 31. Subsequently, Howard was requested to report to the NASA Johnson Space Center, in Houston, Texas, for astronaut training. He completed human centrifuge training and survival training in the wilderness, in addition to experiencing zero-g on a reduced gravity aircraft. Following a Soyuz capsule pressurization test failure, the three-week mission had initially been scrubbed, but NASA rescheduled for an earlier launch from Kazakhstan, during which there was a minor fuel leak at the start of lift-off. He and Leonard Hofstadter subsequently built a multi-wire proportional counter for detecting cosmic particles.

Characterization

TheBigBangTheoryS2E3-091

Howard Flirting With Penny

Cheeky, tenderhearted and supposedly suave, Howard provides outrageous techniques in an attempt to get girls in the first three seasons, none of which are remotely successful. Howard's techniques to approach women are varied, including magic and card tricks, ventriloquism, and techniques from the Mystery Method, such as peacocking and negging. He is consistently depicted as the most sex-crazed of the guys, though he doesn't think his sexual behavior is any different from others. One time, he developed a mathematical formula for the likelihood of him having sex by applying and modifying the Drake equation to include the "Wolowitz coefficient," which he defined as "neediness times dress size squared." He stated, "I'm a horny engineer... I never joke about math or sex." He often fantasizes about various actresses, including Katee Sackhoff, but apparently every woman is his type. Howard describes himself as a romantic, although he usually comes across as overtly sexual and sometimes, in Penny's words, disgusting.

Later Howard becomes dedicated to Bernadette, although he still uses pick-up lines. He reveals more of his facets to Bernadette. As part of his delusions regarding himself, he opines that he is a "tender-hearted poet" and "crazy daredevil". He claims to appear confident and worldly, though he admits he is not. Also, in the first three seasons, he often put chasing women ahead of his friends, a fact that often annoyed them. Examples of this were seen such as when he chose to have sex with Leslie Winkle instead of covering his friends during paintball, getting them shredded. Also, he chose to chase a woman instead of help Raj during a kite competition, costing Raj a kite that he had been sent from India.

Howard is multilingual, using many tongues to try to impress the ladies, sadly to little avail. Most of the languages were revealed in the pilot; in revealed order, they are English, French, Mandarin, Russian, Arabic and Farsi. Howard also speaks Klingon (and plays Klingon Boggle). As shown in "The Wiggly Finger Catalyst", he also knows sign language, and in "The Hawking Excitation", he speaks Japanese and Binary-coded ASCII. However, Howard may not be as competent a polyglot as he believes. In "The Dumpling Paradox", the owner of Szechuan Palace referred to Howard as "...your annoying little friend who thinks he speaks Mandarin." As evidence, he addressed Penny in Mandarin (saying "洗个痛快澡"! - Have a Good Shower!") spoken in the wrong tones. Another time, he addressed Penny in Russian (saying "Ты очень красивая девушка" — "You are a very beautiful girl"), but used bad pronunciation. Sheldon also corrected him in "The Hawking Excitation", when Howard made a mistake in binary. On the contrary, he speaks his French without any speaking errors.

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Howard Season 12

At a cost of his alleged suaveness, Howard can be obnoxious, flippantly derisive and arrogant to an extreme: before he met Bernadette, he made a constant habit of mocking and belittling Leonard about his relationship with Penny as if it had no chance of progressing, completely ignoring the fact that he himself was not in a relationship for the sake of seeming superior to somebody else. Also, when he makes any an accomplishment that he can lord over other people, he will relentlessly remind people about it - most commonly, he brags about having been to space and being the designer for technology that boarded the International Space Station. This particular factor goes to such an extent that people find his bragging extremely annoying and gratuitous, but he barely seems to notice how incessantly he is talking about it. This mostly stemmed from the belief that going into space would be the greatest accomplishment he will ever achieve, and not being able to discuss it would, in his opinion, downgrade its value to him. In spite of this, Howard seemed to believe that simply being an astronaut who went to space made him an American hero.

In addition, after he met Bernadette, he first started treating her like a house-wife and when she stated it felt like it wasn't her house, he answered "Of course it's your house. Why else would you be cleaning it all the time?" He expects her to cater to him in the same way his mother did. He even shamelessly admitted that he'd hoped that, when he met a girl, she would be more like Megan Fox from Transformers (an attractive, but notoriously objectified person, indicating a slightly male-chauvinistic streak). He also tended to act childishly, being lazy enough that Bernadette even set up a 'chore chart' for every time he helped around the house. Even then he only did the bare minimum of housework and expected Bernadette to do it instead. Howard has an extremely complex attitude and opinion about his father Sam Wolowitz. He is repeatedly shown to be furious and resentful towards his father for abandoning him to live with his mother, which is understandable. When he discovers a letter from his father and learns that Sheldon had prematurely read it, his immediate reaction is to burn the letter cause he doesn't want to hear anything that his father has to say, but he's even angrier when he becomes the only one who has no idea what was in the letter. When he meets his half-brother by his father's relationship with another woman, Howard experiences shock at the discovery that his father had another, visibly developed family. In spite of this, Howard is extremely shameless in this regard and will deliberately use his father's abandonment of him to extricate sympathy out of other people, which is often perceived as selfish and melodramatic. Despite this, Howard does have limits, as seen in The Proton Displacement where he was disgusted with Raj's inappropriate gift, The Table Polarization where Raj made a comment that Howard's wand remote was his 2nd favourite brown magic wand, with sexual implications and in The Tenant Disassociation where he's disturbed with Raj's vulgar comments about how the hot tub's touching his private parts. Even prior to changing, Howard's very uncomfortable during a double date with Leonard and Penny when Leonard's making fun of Penny for believing in psychics.

Once Howard finds a joke he likes, he sticks with it. Sheldon even describes him as the funny one in their group, while Howard has said of himself that he is quirky. He mimics voices such as Raj's Indian accent and his mother's accent, and often spews cultural stereotypes. He uses slang such as "fo’shizzle to my nerdizzles," demonstrating his supposed street cred. Howard often has married-couple-like arguments with Raj, usually mocking his words or covering for his obnoxiousness, and is the primary means by which Raj is heard whenever Penny is present. Very sensitive, Howard can be traumatized by a hurtful comment from a woman and there is a glimmer of goodness in him that he allowed Penny to see. In fairness, when this actually happened with Penny, he entirely deserved it because he was making insensitive, borderline misogynistic suggestions towards her and had done so at multiple opportunities in the past, and couldn't even notice that he was being conceited and insulting towards her. Howard's questionable insensitivity has also had violent consequences - when Penny engaged in a ferocious fight with Alicia, Howard screamed with excitement at seeing a girl-fight and immediately restrained Leonard out of terror that he would try to break it up. The fight resulted in Penny receiving several brutal injuries and Howard never had the decency to apologize for his part in her injuries, yet he said something to please her.

Howard spends a large amount of time playing MMORPGs like World of Warcraft, where he plays a night elf hunter named Wolowizard with a pet tiger named Buttons, and Age of Conan where he is a Guardian named "Sir Howard of Wolowitz". Howard enjoys (and is very decent at) Dance Dance Revolution (DDR). He likes reading comics, similar to his friends, and is a Dungeon Master. He has an entire closet of magic tricks. A model rocket enthusiast, Howard designed the engine himself for a three-stage rocket. His advancements in robotics include the Mobile Omnidirectional Neutralization and Termination Eradicator (MONTE) for the Southern California Robot Fighting League Round Robin Invitational. He also once sent a signal around the world via the Internet just to turn on a lamp. He is asthmatic, allergic to peanuts, almonds and walnuts, prone to canker sores and pink eye, succumbs to seasickness, has an incredibly high genetic risk of heart illness and has transient idiopathic arrhythmia. His small size and thin build are also the source of many jokes for people who know him. Aside from being a huge Neil Diamond fan, along with Amy, Howard is heavily implied to enjoy The Beatles due to his "Ringo" haircut and them being on his personalized CD.

Appearances

Appearances

The Big Bang Theory Episodes
 1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Tot
Season 1 17
Season 2 23
Season 3 F 23
Season 4 24
Season 5 24
Season 6 24
Season 7 24
Season 8 24
Season 9 24
Season 10 24
Season 11 24
Season 12 24

Appearances

Young Sheldon Episodes
 1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Tot
Season 1 0
Season 2 C 1
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Appearances

Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage Episodes
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V = Voiced C = Cameo F = Flashback I = Indirectly mentioned P = Pictured


Physical Appearance

Howard is a short, thin man, originally in his mid-twenties, but he's in his mid-thirties by now. He is 5' 4" (1.63 m) (one inch shorter than Leonard) with brown hair and blue eyes. He sports a bowl haircut and wears loud, vintage, 1960-era outfits with a matching color scheme: a V-neck or tee shirt over a turtleneck or dickey with a pin in the shape of an aliens head, on the neck, Vans or Converse sneakers and skinny pants with collectible belt buckles, often being a reference to geek culture, though he only owns one belt. Howard's pajamas are silk gowns embroidered with his initials, "HWJ", befitting his bedroom containing satin sheets, remote-controlled romantic music and mood lighting set by light-sabers overhanging his bed. He also has suggestive glow in the dark posters on the ceiling. His preferred mode of transportation is his Vespa motor scooter, though in "The Parking Spot Escalation", he gets a car of his own. Howard's wacky outfits now have a section of their own under Howard's Wardrobe. Howard becomes taller than Leonard later in the series.

According to Chuck Lorre, Howard is the one of the gang that changed the least over the years, even looking nearly the same at 50 years of age as he did in 2019.[1]

Howard's Bedroom (until Season 6)

This section has now become its own page at Howard's Bedroom.

Family

Howard is noted for living with his overbearing Jewish mother Debbie Wolowitz (to Howard she lives with him), who always makes his life miserable at home with her nosy nature as well as her barrage of disturbing questions, and apparently is oblivious to his accomplishments as a grown-up, usually treating him like he is still a child, thus filling the stereotype of a Jewish mother. Never seen on-screen except for an overhead glimpse in the Season Five finale, and a late season Six episode where she is seen from behind through an ajar door no less than three times. She only communicates with Howard by yelling to him in an obnoxious manner, which results in awkward long-distance conversations, with Howard frustratingly yelling back at her. Such behavior prompts him to call her a "crazy old lady". Howard stated that she had safety bars on his bed until he was seventeen in the Season Two finale. Despite this fact, Howard likes to be mothered to some degree, has an unresolved Oedipus complex and seems to appreciate some of his mother's cooking, especially her brisket, a dish that Howard refers to throughout (unlike the turbriskefilte, a turkey stuffed with a brisket stuffed with Gefilte fish, which he says he 'doesn't even chew', but 'swallows like pills'). It's implied strongly that his mom is incredibly fat and disturbingly masculine, causing Leonard to believe she was Howard's dad when he first heard her. It has been stated that she also has a large mustache. Despite the fact that she made his life miserable by emotionally suffocating him and that he often wished for her death, it is shown he truly loved his mother as shown when he worried for her health after she got food poisoning and was jealous of her spending time with Stuart Bloom. During "The Comic Book Store Regeneration," Howard was devastated by the news that his mother died in her sleep while visiting relatives in Florida as he was comforted by his friends.

In "The Precious Fragmentation", Howard reveals that his father left his family when Howard was eleven. To help Howard overcome the loss, his mom bought him an Alf doll to console Howard. Although it is not stated what really happened, Howard assumes that his father did not like him. In "The Hot Troll Deviation", Howard infers that the cause of why he "tries too hard" with women is due to abandonment issues, as opposed to the proximal cause being his looks (as stated in "The Killer Robot Instability"): "I’m just another lonely nerd, living with his mother, trying to find any scrap of happiness he can. You know, maybe to make up for the fact that his dad left him when he was eleven." His parents were drunk all the time and it has never been established why his father left.

Howard lost his virginity to his second cousin Jeanie in a Toyota Corolla after they locked eyes over the pickled herring at his Aunt Barbara's house during his Uncle Murray's funeral, and ever since Howard gets aroused by looking at pickled herring, he can't ever look at pickled herring the same, all of which Leonard and Raj find extremely funny. His cousin David provided him with the half-carat ring for Bernadette.

He has a cousin in Israel who lives with her husband Avi, as well as cousins from Fort Lauderdale, while his Aunt Betty (his mother's sister) and Uncle Elliot are from Palm Springs. Howard also has an Uncle Louie, whom he ridicules based on a photo of him in a bathing suit. He says they are "Jewish hobbits," as evidenced by dinner at his house on Rosh Hashanah. After Howard's great-grandfather immigrated to the United States, he ran a little butcher shop on the Lower East Side of New York, ripping people off. Howard's family has a genetically high risk of heart disease. In "The Closet Reconfiguration" Sheldon finds an unopened letter from Howard's father that he read. Eventually, everyone knows what is in the letter except Howard, who had burnt it earlier in the episode. When Howard tells them he both wants and does not want to know the contents, his friends come up with a compromise. They each tell him a plausible story, only one of which is the actual truth, so he hears the contents, but isn't sure which one (except for Sheldon's version.) In "The Comic Book Store Regeneration", Howard learns that his mother died in her sleep while visiting Howard's Aunt Gladys in Florida. He and Bernadette fly to Florida for the funeral and the airline temporarily loses his mother's urn with her ashes in it. Howard is distort because he didn't get to see her one last time because he was too busy to drive her to the airport. Howard promises that they will never be separated again making Bernadette fear that the urn will end up in their bedroom.

In "The Fortification Implementation," a young man shows up at Howard's door and has just learned through the lawyer handling Howard's mother's estate that Howard was his older half-brother. Their mutual father, Sam Wolowitz is revealed to have had a second family after leaving Howard's mother with his name being Josh Wolowitz and he is an oceanography student in San Diego. Though it is awkward at first, as Howard was hurt his father had another family when he left his old one. Initially, Howard wanted Josh to go away though the two half-brothers bonded after Josh learned of Howard being an astronaut which he found to be amazing. This flattered Howard who told him of his time as an astronaut. Howard was even more pleased with Josh having a similar creepy personality that Howard used to have, which helped them connect. After that any discomfort Howard had with Josh disappeared, as he acknowledged Josh as his younger brother and hugged Josh hoping to see him again though he didn't appear again in the series.

In "The Birthday Synchronicity", Bernadette is rushed to the hospital and gives birth to their daughter Halley Wolowitz. In "The Proposal Proposal”, when Sheldon calls about his engagement to Amy, Howard tells Bernie who discovers that moment that she again pregnant. Howard thinks that she is crying about the engagement. When she tells they start several rounds of "No" and "Yes" with both of them wondering if they can raise another baby.

In "The Explosion Implosion", they learn their unborn child was going to be a boy as Howard is worried he won't be manly enough to raise a boy. After a talk with Sheldon, he overcomes his worries and prepares to raise another child with his wife.

During "The Neonatal Nomenclature", Howard and Bernadette's son Neil Michael Wolowitz is born and Bernadette has already decided to call him by his middle name, something Howard argues with.

Relationships

Friends

Rajesh Koothrappali

The stag convergence Howard and Raj's bromance

Howard and Raj were like husband and wife.

Raj is Howard's best friend. Howard invites his buddy over to his house all the time. Howard has called them co-pilots of the Millennium Falcon, and they have weekly routines they do together. However, Howard becomes easily distracted and sometimes abandons him, only to be unmindful of any wrongdoing. Sadly, he taught Raj his dance moves, and Howard seems to wear off on him, as Raj can be very womanizing and uses slang. He scoffs at Raj when he says something stupid, and has once complained that he's going to end up with swimmer's ear with Raj whispering in his ear, although Sheldon cannot tolerate his moist breath in his ear altogether. Despite the fact that Howard is undeniably obsessed with women, Dr. Beverly Hofstadter, Leonard's mother, says they are in an "ersatz homosexual marriage". Amusingly, Raj and Howard have several arguments during the series, in which Raj repeatedly accuses Howard of leaving him for everybody who's only slightly better looking and otherwise assuming the cliche female role in partnership arguments. Season 4 jokingly introduced the possibility of Howard's "latent homosexual tendencies" when George Takei appeared as himself in an imaginary conversation with Bernadette and Katee Sackhoff over his relationship status with Bernadette, but Howard quickly denied it. Before Howard met Bernadette, it was implied that he called Raj "honey", and Debbie Wolowitz is relieved when he has a girl over to the house. In "The Septum Deviation", Raj has dinner with Howard and Bernie is worried about what to get his parents for their fortieth wedding anniversary. Later Raj gets a call from his father that he has moved out and that his parents are getting divorce lawyers. Howard is visiting him and sympathizes with him. His discussion of their not communicating together causes a fight between Howard and Bernie. In "The Anxiety Optimization", Howard starts a game called "Emily or Cinnamon" where people have to guess whether statements Raj has made are for the woman or the dog he loves. Emily thinks Raj's sensitive nature is very sexy. In "The 2003 Approximation", Raj and Howard form a band call "Footprints on the Moon", when Stuart is looking for live music in his store. They write a song about Indiana Jones taking on Thor which is a cool song, but not easy to dance to. In "The Confidence Erosion", Raj takes a break from his friendship with Howard when he realizes that his lack of confidence is in part due to Howard's constant demeaning jokes. He changes his look, gains confidence and gets a job at the Griffith Observatory. After his show, a young woman even asks him to coffee. In "The Celebration Reverberation", Raj is still mad at Howard who still gets him to plan Halley's first birthday party. Both end up in Halley's bounce house taking out their frustrations on each other. The house is so much fun that they mend their friendship while bouncing around. In "The Planetarium Collision" Howard gets invited by Raj's boss to help host a planetarium show since he is an astronaut. Raj is worried that Howard will take over the show. Anxiety occurs between them and during their show they end up complimenting each other to excess. In "The Inspiration Deprivation", Howard buys a Vespa like he used to own with him and Raj planning to relive their good old days. Bernadette is angry and doesn't want him hurt. He sells it to Bert who immediately has an accident. In "The Maternal Conclusion", Anu is in London for a convention and then gets offered a job. She wonders what that means for them. Raj decides to go to London and propose thinking that this is his last chance for happiness. Howard goes to the airport and convinces him to stay.

Leonard Hofstadter

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Leonard and Howard.

Howard met Leonard in 2003 as seen in a flashback of "The Staircase Implementation". Howard told Penny that both he and Raj liked Leonard. Leonard has helped him quite often, and Howard faced an allergic reaction partly to provide Leonard's first birthday party. Though, Howard finds Leonard's worries over Penny humorous sometimes, and they like to post embarrassing things about each other on YouTube and Twitter. The two of them made a pact that if either one of them ever got a girlfriend, the other one would set up the single guy with one of her girlfriends. When it comes to agreements and women, they frequently fight. Leonard does enjoy poking fun at Howard's height, although he is only a quarter of an inch taller ("And don't you forget it!"). But despite any problems, the two are best friends and help each other out often.

Sheldon Cooper

Sheldon often makes fun of Howard for not having a doctoral degree and for being an engineer, referring to engineers as "noble semi-skilled laborers" and "the Oompa-Loompas of science", and calling engineering "the slow younger brother of physics". He has referred to their group of scientists as "a group of geniuses and their friend Howard", thus ruling him out, and called Howard "a treasured acquaintance" instead of a close friend like Leonard, Raj and Penny. Sheldon describes Raj as Howard's primary friend, Leonard as Howard's secondary friend, and himself as Howard's tertiary friend.

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Howard As Sheldon experiments on his kids

However, Sheldon still says that if he ever needs a slightly apathetic tertiary friend, he is there for him, and refers to him as "the funny one" in their group. Howard is also the "Scotty" of their Star Trek landing party. Though often annoyed by Sheldon, Howard is able to perceive when Sheldon is upset, unlike with best friend Raj. Howard has varied between not really caring whether he and Sheldon are friends and being visibly wounded when Sheldon is dismissive of him. During the time when Sheldon considered who to jettison from his circle of friends and said critically that Howard doesn't have a Ph.D. and isn't available to play video games during the Jewish High Holidays, Howard seemed pleased that he might be freed from Sheldon's friendship, only to watch as Sheldon then ordered a horrified Raj out of the circle of friends. Later, the "treasured acquaintance" remark makes Howard's face fall as if hearing that Leonard, Penny and Raj are considered friends while he isn't, is upsetting to him.

In "The Friendship Turbulence" Bernadette is tired of Sheldon always degrading her husband. Sheldon reveals that the first time they met; Howard told him that he was a cross between C3PO and Pee Wee Herman, calling him C-3-P-Wee Herman. Howard then followed that by replacing slides from Sheldon's lecture with pictures of nude fat women bending over, quickly progression into a decade long rivalry of pranks, such as unwanted magazine subscriptions. To try to improve their relationship, Howard invites Sheldon to join him on a trip to Houston where he is speaking at NASA. Howard gives him a tour, helps him through the turbulence they experience on the plane trip and helps him deal with having seen his mother having sex. He notes that he drove away a man interested in his mother and that Sheldon should not stand in the way of his mother's happiness. In "The Comic Book Store Regeneration", when the gang receives the devastating news that Debbie Wolowitz died, Sheldon wanted to say something. Though the gang was worried at what insensitive thing he might say, Howard allowed Sheldon to speak. In a rare moment of compassion, Sheldon comforted Howard by stating when his father died, he didn't have friends to help him through it before reminding Howard that he does. These words surprised Howard but caused him to smile at Sheldon for understanding his grief and silently thank him for his words, moving past some of his sadness. In "The Explosion Implosion", Howard is worried about knowing enough to raise a boy, but then realizes that they could bond over launching model rockets. Sheldon also gets excited about it and they take a Saturn V model out to the desert to launch. The model rocket blows up disappointing Howard until Sheldon tells Howard that he thinks that he'll be a great father especially since Howard lost his. In "The Bow Tie Asymmetry", Howard got Mark Hamill to perform the Shamy wedding and Sheldon was grateful to him. Besides the point, the two are best friends.

In "The Imitation Perturbation", on Halloween at work Howard dressed up as Sheldon, but Sheldon was clueless as to the impersonation. After he realizes it, he sees that everyone is laughing at his idiosyncrasies. Later at the party, Sheldon and Amy show up dressed as Howard and Bernadette. Bernadette is not happy with Amy's high squeaky voice and cracks about her small body. Later Sheldon does apologize to Bernie and the bond over both being small in high school. Sheldon was only eleven.

In "The Meteorite Manifestation", the Wolowitzes are having a problem with their neighbors new deck and the floodlights that light up their backyard. Sheldon helps them with the paperwork at the city zoning office and makes their neighbors tear down their deck. They deny knowing who filed the paper work. Sheldon was not happy that he learned that they had made other home improvements without the proper paperwork. He decides to take friendship over the law for once.

In the Young Sheldon episode "An Introduction to Engineering and a Glob of Hair Gel", Howard and Sheldon seemingly fall out after the latter confesses that his hang-ups with the former are from a bad experience at an engineering class.

Penny

The Killer Robot Instability 33

Penny and Howard after she has just broken his nose.

Since the beginning of the series, Howard has shown interest in Penny, but the interest is primarily sexual and she always turns him down. She commonly sees Howard as disgusting and inhuman; however, Penny's animosity toward Howard has mellowed somewhat since Howard began dating her colleague Bernadette Rostenkowski, to whom he is now married. Penny introduced them to each other, is very nosy about their relationship, and once questioned if Bernadette truly loves Howard. She thinks Howard's story about his father is extremely sad; Howard used this fact as leverage for Penny to help him get Bernadette back, after tricking her to open the door for whom she thought was Sheldon. After Bernadette gets mad at Howard when she hears about some of his sexual exploits from Raj's drunken batchelor party speech, Penny answers the door at Bernadette's apartment and hears Howard's heart-felt apology. He tells Penny that he is a better man because of Bernadette. Penny breaks into tears and tells him, "Oh, my God, Howard. That’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard. And it came out of you.". The two are best friends.

Amy Farrah Fowler

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Amy, Howard and Sheldon

Howard has a complicated relationship with Amy, but they are best friends. She, like Sheldon, is condescending to him for not having a doctoral degree. Cause they don't have a lot in common, he hasn't had much reason to interact with her after their initial meeting. After acknowledging her attitude in "The Scavenger Vortex," they try to find common interests. They start to bond over a mutual love for Neil Diamond music. In "The Collaboration Contamination", Howard and Amy are working together on a brain controlled robotic device. Howard astonishes her with his magic and they spend free time listening to music and each dancing together, things Amy doesn't get to do with Sheldon. Both Sheldon and Bernadette start feeling neglected. Howard's Also led car rides with Amy.

Stuart

Howard and Stuart are quite good friends and have been for years.

TBBT 6x5 The Holographic Excitation Howard and Stuart

Howard and Stuart

In season 8, however, Howard has a lot of issues with Stuart, after Stuart finishes helping his mother with her recovery from her broken leg. Stuart did not move out and developed a cozy close relationship with Howard's mother that seemed romantic, while Stuart at times seemed to be replacing Howard and/or Howard's father. During the prom given on the building roof, Stuart further humiliated Howard when he brought Howard's second cousin Jeanie as his prom date, the second cousin to whom Howard lost his virginity in the back of her father's Toyota Corolla. In "The Commitment Determination", Howard and Bernadette want Stuart to move out of their house. Howard wants Bernadette to break the news to him, but they can't because they learn that it's his birthday so they serve him a cupcake with a candle in it rather than serving him an eviction notice. In "The Sales Call Sublimation", Stuart finally moves out into his own apartment. Though they don't want to admit it, Howard and Bernadette miss him. In "The Viewing Party Combustion", he shows up at the Game of Throne's party to watch the show in costume because Howard played a prank on him. He gets mad at Howard.

In "The Wedding Gift Wormhole", when Stuart has a date with Denise and over does his tanning and ends up orange, Howard's jokes about it but like Bernadette helps Stuart and encouraged him go pick up Denise anyway, assuring him that she might be flattered by his attempt to impress her for the event.

In "The Maternal Conclusion", Howard and Bernadette notices that Denise is spending a lot of time at their house semi-living with Stuart. Howard confronts Stuart about him spending more time elsewhere. Stuart then moves out to live with Denise.

Miscellaneous

Eric Gablehauser

The Codpiece Topology 01

Talking down to non-doctorate Howard.

Howard has a complicated relationship with Dr. Eric Gablehauser. Like Sheldon, Dr. Gablehauser mocks Howard for lacking a doctorate and during The Physics Bowl Quiz, Gablehauser gives Howard two warnings for sexual harassment during the quiz. The only time Gablehauser is seen to be respectful to Howard is when they meet in "The Luminous Fish Effect" when Dr. Gablehauser is the new chairman of Caltech's Physics Department. They just shake hands and Gablehauser tells Howard it's nice to meet him.

Beverly Hofstadter

Howard particularly dislikes Leonard's mother Beverly Hofstadter because she is such an annoying cold woman. He is not happy with her thinking that he and Raj are in an ersatz homosexual relationship and not believing the fact that Howard has a girlfriend. It wasn't until later in "The Line Substitution Solution" that Beverly would've seemed to know that Howard is married to a woman.

Unknown Friends

Although Howard is socially awkward like his friends, he has friends in strange, but useful places such as NORAD and the United States Department of Defense who lend him technology such as military driving simulators to teach Sheldon to drive, spy drones to spy on the Top Model House and advanced security equipment to protect Leonard and Sheldon's apartment after it was robbed. He has also managed to "borrow" expensive equipment, presumably gaining entry due to friends even if he had to steal it. He takes a high-tech robot arm in "The Robotic Manipulation" and gets an extremely expensive camera in "The 43 Peculiarity", which may have required help from his friends. He also has been shown to have "geeky" friends who enjoy Star Wars and the like. He manages to get the ring in "The Precious Fragmentation" valued by a guy named Eddie Crispo and in that same episode says "I know lots of dangerous people". He also knows people on the black market like when he got Sheldon and Leonard some liquid helium in "The Helium Insufficiency".

Romantic

Among his friends, Howard is the least successful at getting dates, despite his obsessive drive; however, he is the first to end up married.

Summer

At a reception for the new Physics department head, Dr. Eric Gablehauser, Howard shows up with a paid for date named Summer. He introduces her as his special lady and she informs him that touching her will cost extra.

The Luminous Fish Effect 13

Summer who was bought and paid for.

Mikayla

Howard is in Las Vegas to be cheered up by Raj and Leonard after his breakup with Leslie Winkle. After a suicidal text, Howard is convinced to come downstairs due to the guys raving about the marvelous shrimp bar. They had hired the prostitute Mikayla who planned to give him the Jewish girlfriend experience.

TheBigBangTheoryS2E21-152

Mikayla pretends to be the Jewish Esther Rosenblatt for Howard.

She steps up behind him and says "Boy, would it kill them to put out a nice brisket?" Howard immediately turns around and says, "I'm Howard Wolowitz." Mikayla replies "Hi, I'm Esther Rosenblatt." They are really getting along as she describes all her ethnic-style turn-ons like getting freaky with a bacon cheese burger on the Sabbath. Howard checks with the guys telling them that he knows that she is a hooker. He then thanks them and rejoins her. The story backfires when Raj details these escapades during his bachelor party and Bernadette gets furious at him after she hears about his previously unknown sexual adventures.

Christy Vanderbel

Christy and Howard

Christy and Howard.

Through Penny, inadvertently, Howard hooked up with Christy, "the whore of Omaha." The two upset Penny by abusing her personal belongings, such as using her loofah mitt and getting her stuffed bear collection sweaty. Christy then had to stay with Howard at his house. Although she displayed signs of affection towards Howard, Christy was highly materialistic and went out with him only on the condition he buy her stuff and take her shopping; which was more than fine with him. She dumped him when she confronted Howard's mother, who threatened to cut Howard out of the will, as long as he kept going out with her.

Lisa

Howard was introduced to Lisa by her roommate Stephanie Barnett in "The Lizard-Spock Expansion" (S02E08), but she is never seen. She just went through a bad breakup and Stephanie thought she should meet someone fun like Howard. Wolowitz apologized for how their first date ended and wanted her to come have brisket at his house.

Leslie Winkle

The-Cushion-Saturation-the-big-bang-theory-4781264-1280-720

Leslie Winkle flirts with Howard.

In "The Cushion Saturation" (S02E16), Howard engaged in a "friends with benefits" relationship with Leslie, which brought him a few benefits beside sex, including receiving a rapid prototyper and getting on the research trip to Geneva to check out the CERN Supercollider. He still became depressed when Leslie dumped him some time later. In order to cheer him up, Leonard and Raj took Howard to Las Vegas and managed to hire a prostitute for him, giving him the Jewish girlfriend experience.

Bethany

Bethany and Sarah

Bethany was a Goth girl that Howard and Raj met ("The Gothowitz Deviation" S03E03) in a Goth nightclub in Hollywood with her friend Sarah. Both guys took a liking to Bethany and ignored Sarah. At Bethany's suggestion, they then went to a tattoo parlor, where Bethany implied she would be with Howard if he got a new tattoo. Howard gave into his fear of the needle and exposed himself and Raj as frauds, causing both women to quickly ditch them.

Emily Sweeney

Howard was set up on a blind date with Emily sometime near 2009 before he met Bernadette. He had a bad stomach and had to go to the bathroom and clogged the toilet, he was too embarrassed to tell her so ran out through the window. They met again in the episode "The Relationship Diremption" where she is now dating Raj. Emily reveals she's okay with it and her friends love the story. They call him "Clogzilla".

Bernadette Rostenkowski

Howard and Bernadette

Howard and Bernadette's wedding.

The Launch Acceleration Howard and Bernadette 3

Dancing together.

Main article: Howard and Bernadette


Howard's relationship with Bernadette is easily his most significant romantic relationship. Howard was introduced to Bernadette by Penny after he enacted the Girlfriend Pact with Leonard in "The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary". At first, she and Howard did not get along, as they appeared to have nothing in common. However, when they found out that they both had overbearing mothers they immediately felt a connection. He first proposed to her in "The Vengeance Formulation", but she claimed that it was too soon and that they had not even slept together yet. His action was most probably influenced by his desire to get her to forgive him and to please her, rather than his desire to spend the rest of his life with her. Although Bernadette rejects his offer, they remain a couple for a time after Howard sings a heartfelt song for her at The Cheesecake Factory, which Penny finds quite embarrassing, but Bernadette finds romantic. Eventually, they break up after she discovers Howard, via his World of Warcraft character, having sex with another online character. Bernadette and Howard reconcile and resume their relationship. In "The Herb Garden Germination", Howard proposed again to Bernadette and she accepted. In the fifth-season finale, "The Countdown Reflection", the two finally got married in a simple ceremony held on the rooftop of the apartment building, shortly before Howard went to space. In "The Deception Verification", Bernadette must deal with the effects of her mother-in-law's estrogen cream after Howard absorbs a considerable amount of the estrogen cream himself while applying it to his mother's back, and Howard became moody, cranky and effeminate.

In "The Workplace Proximity", after Amy starts working at Caltech, Howard mentions that he wouldn't want to be working with Bernadette all day long. Sheldon repeats his comments in front of Bernadette who confronts Howard and then tells him not to come home after he lies about it. Later they apologize to each other. Howard promised to turn over a new leaf and make her his priority, after he finished the new Batman video game with Raj, which upset Bernadette again.

In "The Romance Resonance", Howard writes a song for the anniversary of his and Bernadette's first date, and asks his friends to provide instrumental backup while he sings the song to Bernadette. Bernadette misses the date because she is forced into hospital quarantine after she dropped a Petrie dish containing a raccoon virus she was studying, so Howard brings his piano to the hospital and the gang sings the song to Bernadette. It is full of geeky references. Bernadette finds the song amazing.

In "The Cooper Extraction" Amy points out to the gang that most of them would not know each other if Sheldon had not been part of their lives. Bernadette feels that if she had seen Howard at The Cheesecake Factory, she would have found him cute, but would have been turned off by Raj and Howard's close interaction. (Raj was spoon feeding him). Howard figures that if they hadn't met he would have descended into Norman Bates in the movie "Psycho", killed his mother, kept the body and absorbed her personality (i.e. talking for her).

In the episode "The Valentino Submergence", Bernie mentions to a rabbit that she is pregnant with their first child without having yet told Howard. In "The Positive Negative Reaction", she tells Howard the news. Howard is at first freaked out a the responsibility and costs of raising a child and then embraces the future as much as Bernie does. In "The Cohabitation Experimentation", they have a sonogram and don't want to know the baby's gender. Raj knows to their discomfort and the couple has a battle of conscious on whether to find out. Also Raj is way too involved in the pregnancy including going into her OB/GYN exams. In "The Fetal Kick Catalyst", after feeling the baby kick, Howard runs out and buys an expensive crib and a minivan. In "The Birthday Synchronicity", Bernadette is rushed to the hospital and gives birth to their daughter Halley Wolowitz.

In "The Proposal Proposal”, when Sheldon calls about his engagement to Amy, Howard tells Bernie who discovers that moment that she again pregnant. Howard thinks that she is crying about the engagement. When she tells they start several rounds of "No" and "Yes" with both of them wondering if they can raise another baby. Their son Neil is born in "The Neonatal Nomenclature". In "The Athenaeum Allocation" both Howard and Bernadette express their wishes to stay home with the kids, but they decide that they don't want to leave their jobs and find it too tiring.

In "The VCR Illumination", Bernadette sees an old VHS tape of Howard trying out an audition for the Magic Castle. She pushes him to try again adding some beauty pageant touches from her own experience. Howard tries it and then backs off so that he only performs magic. At the audition he accidentally destroys the watch of the man who is judging him and obviously fails.

In "The Donation Oscillation" Raj still goes through with his bachelor party plans to ride the Vomit Comet and experience weightlessness. Anu and astronaut Howard decides to join in, Bernadette wouldn't like to do it and Howard knows it. Just to prove her husband wrong, Bernadette takes his place hating it the entire time.

In "The Laureate Accumulation", Halley is afraid of the dark so Howard tells her how he was afraid while on the International Space Station. Bernadette hears the tale and she and Stuart doing the illuminations write a book entitled “The Frightened Little Astronaut.” Howard doesn't wan the world to know about his experience especially after a publisher is interested in the book.

In "The Stockholm Syndrome", Howard and Bernadette are going a long way from their kids and they are worried. Stuart and Denise are going to watch them. On the plane over Bernadette is relaxed until they get a disturbing call from Stuart. Halley is hurt and Neil is sick. First they plan to go back until Bernadette's parents go over to take charge. Both of them get acknowledged by Sheldon in his Nobel acceptance speech

Glacinda the Troll

Glacinda the Troll is an avatar in World of Warcraft that Howard had, according to Bernadette, "clicked the brains out [of]". It was revealed in "The Hot Troll Deviation" by Leonard that Glacinda was a male member of the University's janitorial staff. This episode is the only one where Glacinda is mentioned. Despite the minority of this character, Howard's dalliance with Glacinda caused his initial breakup with Bernadette.

Jeanie

While Howard, Raj and Leonard waited to observe the Leonid meteor shower in "The Adhesive Duck Deficiency", Howard discovered also camping at the site a couple of middle school female teachers, age in their fifties (possibly hippies due to Howard describing their fits as tie-dyes), who share with Howard their cookies. Howard, Raj, and Leonard eat the cookies without realizing the cookies contain marijuana, and the three of them get high. While the three of them were stoned, Howard admitted that he lost his virginity at a funeral to his second cousin Jeanie. Later, Raj and Leonard make joke stories about it and laugh while Howard looks annoyed. The story gets mentioned again by Raj at Howard's bachelor party, almost breaking up Howard and Bernadette. During the prom party, Stuart brought Jeanie as his prom date, further humiliating Howard.

Religion

In an episode of StarTalk podcast, the show's co-creator and executive producer Bill Prady said, “Howard is culturally religious. Jews are well represented among scientists because of a cultural predisposition toward academic careers, so here's a character whose religion is cultural for him, but not particularly significant.” Although Jewish, Howard is not very serious about his faith and does not keep kosher. For instance, he eats pork often and without regret; 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." He is not at all concerned about postponing sex until wedlock (like every other religious character on the show, except for Sheldon's parents). On another occasion, when Howard tried to date Sheldon's sister, Missy, he said he would kill his rabbi 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 the chance to really annoy his mom. Despite these actions, 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 so he could be buried in a Jewish cemetery. He also apparently attends High Holiday services, as Sheldon once critically noted that he was not available to compete in Halo during those times. Howard scared away his mother's boyfriend during a very vindictive bar mitzvah speech.

Trivia

  • He's the only one of the group other than Penny and Stuart to lack a PhD, he's often mocked by Sheldon and others for this which is ironic considering he wasn't requiring any to be well above the latter two and even Stuart makes progress in the last 2 seasons. Howard eventually calls engineers as smart as physicists to Sheldon's horror. Howard, ironically has at least better sarcasm understanding than Sheldon.
  • On a shelf in Howard's room, there is a replica model of the 211-V Plasma Cutter used by Isaac Clarke in the first Dead Space game. The tool is also seen being used in Dead Space 2 by a girl named Ellie Langford which she fires at Isaac in Hostility.
  • Howard has a master's degree in engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It required the completion of 144 units of grad work and an original thesis.
  • His astronaut nickname has been designated as "Froot Loops".
  • Howard has a different chest hair count in "The Cushion Saturation" and "The 21-Second Excitation".
  • Howard wears alien pins on his collar in every episode, yet the pin has not been mentioned thus far.
  • Though Howard's Jewish, like Rajesh Koothrappali he doesn't seem to take his faith seriously and hardly keeps Kosher.
  • Howard's committed the most illegal acts of the group yet has apparently never gotten imprisoned nor even fired for it. He has a large amount of sexual harassment complaints, destroyed government property (driving the Mars Rover into a ditch and destroying the data), stolen government property for his own use (using a spare camera from the Mars rover to spy on Sheldon, diverting a satellite to find the Top Models mansion), unlawful surveillance (installing cameras to spy on women, such as giving Penny a webcam teddy bear and installing cameras in the hallway to spy on Penny.) Interestingly, Howard's destruction of the Mars Rover is revealed by Sheldon to the FBI yet Howard is never actually arrested for the act. In double irony the university never fires him either and considering all Howard's crimes, firing him was the minimum that should've happened.
  • Howard is 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m) tall [1], the height of Simon Helberg. After Leonard teased him regarding his small stature in "The Hot Troll Deviation", he stated that Leonard, who is established to be 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m), was only about a quarter of an inch taller than him.
  • He weighs around 120 pounds.
  • Howard and his mother live in Altadena, California, north of Pasadena, until he moves out in "The Habitation Configuration" (S6E07) after he was married.
  • Howard wears Vans and Converse shoes.
  • Wolowitz is a huge fan of Stephen Hawking and likes to watch tapes of his lectures, preferably ones prior to 1985, "before he became a 'creepy' computer voice" (Hawking lost his voice due to a tracheotomy performed after a life-threatening bout of pneumonia and now communicates using a voice synthesizer). In "The Hawking Excitation", Howard actually gets the chance to meet and work with him, helping him with his wheelchair equipment. Howard would later recommend Leonard to Hawking for his North Sea expedition, which Hawking agreed to.
  • Howard's online username/persona/identity is Wolowizard.
  • Howard spends a large amount of time playing MMORPGs like World of Warcraft, where he plays a night elf hunter named Wolowizard with a pet tiger named Buttons. He also plays Age of Conan where he is a Guardian named Sir Howard of Wolowitz.
  • Howard enjoys (and is very good at) DDR.
  • Howard is allergic to peanuts and when he does eat one, his face goes pink and swells up very badly.
  • Howard owns an Alienware computer.
  • Howard has a Dell XPS M1210 with a 6 Cell Battery.
  • Howard owns a Motorola V3, Nokia N95 and various iPhone cell phones.
  • Howard has two Luke Skywalker FX lightsabers displayed on the wall of his bedroom, which he can ignite by remote to set the mood. In the flashback of Howard's room in 2003, he had two plastic toy blue light sabers on the wall, likely replaced later on with the FX sabers.
  • Howard's personal wardrobe and grooming styles are based on Davy Jones from The Monkees, usually including a 1960s hip bowl-style haircut (even though he chose to have a '70s disco style Afro and goat beard 7 years ago) and a brightly colored shirt.
  • Howard can beatbox, albeit badly.
  • The character is named after show producer Bill Prady's former business partner in a software development company, Howard Wolowitz.
  • Howard maintains that his mother lived with him, rather than him having lived with his mother.
  • Howard gets around Pasadena by means of gas-powered scooter-Vespa though he may have gotten a car because in "The Robotic Manipulation" he states that he smuggled the robotic arm to his car. He does acquire a new car in "The Parking Spot Escalation".
  • He has a massive collection of belt buckles yet only has one belt.
    • Howard's collection of belt buckles include a chimpanzee, deli sandwich, a film projector, Nintendo controller and the 'Superman Returns' shield. Many of his belt buckles are purchased from thealley.com
  • Howard plays the drums on Rock Band.
  • Howard once went to medical school but dropped out cause he easily gets nauseated when he sees injuries (as seen in "The White Asparagus Triangulation" when he appears ill when he sees stitches on Leonard's hand).
  • Howard says in "The Friendship Algorithm" that he's thinking about growing a mustache but it's not until "The Electric Can Opener Fluctuation" he appears with one, having grown a massive beard at the North Pole and keeping the mustache when they shave their beards off.
  • According to "The Apology Insufficiency", his middle name is Joel.
  • In "The Alien Parasite Hypothesis", Howard mentions having taken a karate lesson when he was 11. He claims that he could have become more proficient if his mother could have arranged a carpool.
  • His nightmare is to shower after the game and for other guys see him naked.
  • Howard bears similarities to comedian Moe Howard, such as his haircut, name and Jewish heritage.
  • Though considered the least smart member of the guys for not having a doctorate other than Stuart, Howard appears to be smarter than his friends acknowledge him as, such as besting Sheldon at insect biology in Season 3's second episode. He also states in "The Hawking Excitation" that he has a valid understanding of physics. He has a greater knowledge or designing and building real life things and can advise Penny as easily as the others
  • He, on one instance, was vengeful to Sheldon for saying he couldn't understand Physics, not letting him see Stephen Hawking and shunning him in Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Klingon, Binary Code and Gangsta ("Hells Naw").
  • Despite his many creepy sexual fantasies of Penny during the earlier series, he ironically remains the only one of the original group that hasn't seen Penny naked. However, Sheldon revealed that right after the guys met Penny, Howard had found the movie "Serial Ape-ist" online, which depicted Penny topless.
  • Both Howard and Sheldon connect with their girlfriends over the personalities of their mothers.
  • He's the first one of the geeks to get married, the first to get engaged and to have kids.
  • Howard may be the basis for Miho Hidaka from the manga/anime series Prodigy Teacher Yuto.
  • Bill Prady described Howard as perfecting Pepe Le Pew, the skunk from Looney Tunes, who constantly tried to get a girl to love him.
  • At age 15, Howard lost his virginity to his second cousin Jeanie in her father's Toyota Corolla.
  • Howard's Bar Mitsvah bonds consist of $2,600 and two trees in Israel.
  • His mother calls him 'Bubula'.
  • Out of all the main characters (himself, Sheldon, Raj, Leonard, Stuart, Amy, Bernadette and Penny), he's the only one that was actually born in Pasadena (Sheldon's from Texas, Raj's from India, Leonard's from New Jersey, Penny's from Nebraska. Stuart's Origin's unknown but has strongly been hinted to be in Rhode Island; Amy's from Glendale and Bernadette's from Yorba Linda).
  • Some of Howard's "flirts" included:
    • "See a Penny, pick her up and all the day you'll have good luck."
    • (Howard was dressed as Robin Hood on Halloween but everyone thought he was Peter Pan.) "I've got a handful of pixie dust with your name on it."
    • "If that's a working stethoscope then maybe you'd like to hear my heart skip a beat."
    • (Trying to hit on Summer Glau; Raj later stole this line) "It's hot in here, must be Summer."
    • "Are you from Mars? 'Cause your ass is out of this world."
    • "Your ass must be jelly cause jam doesn't shake like that."
    • He's also called Penny a "cheesecake-scented goddess".
  • Howard, Raj, Leonard and Sheldon are the only characters of the current main cast who have appeared in every episode (not counting the Unaired Pilot).
  • Howard knows ASL.
  • Howard's right-handed.
  • He once dropped Raj's phone in a urinal.
  • He once sold his sperm, as shown in the episode "The Classified Materials Turbulence" when Raj asks, "Have you been selling your sperm again?
  • Howard's called Wasserman in "The Rhinitis Revelation".
  • Though he's seen drinking alcohol like the others numerous times, Howard's the only main character to never have been shown very intoxicated.
  • Howard appears to be inspired by the character Seth from Joey, the sequel to Friends also made by Warner Bros with the following similarities: both Seth and Howard are depicted with geeky personalities; Seth shares a friendship with Michael Tribbiani similar to Howard's with Raj, though Seth is sometimes shown to be Michael's rival; and during a double date party, Seth attends with a girl named Molly, who displays many similar traits to Bernadette, most notably a high pitched voice.

Gallery

An image gallery is available for Howard Wolowitz

References

  1. Tweet by Chuck Lorre
Characters Main Leonard Hofstadter  ‧  Sheldon Cooper  ‧  Penny Hofstadter  ‧  Howard Wolowitz  ‧  Rajesh Koothrappali  ‧  Amy Farrah Fowler  ‧  Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz  ‧  Stuart Bloom  ‧ The Social Group  ‧ Emily Sweeney  ‧  Leslie Winkle
Recurring and Minor Debbie Wolowitz  ‧  Barry Kripke  ‧  Priya Koothrappali  ‧  Dr. V. M. Koothrappali  ‧  Mrs. Koothrappali  ‧  Stephanie Barnett  ‧  Lucy  ‧  Mary Cooper  ‧  Zack Johnson  ‧  Beverly Hofstadter  ‧  Mike Rostenkowski  ‧  Alex Jensen  ‧  Professor Proton  ‧  Missy Cooper  ‧  Ramona Nowitzki  ‧  Dan  ‧  Josh Wolowitz  ‧  Dennis Kim  ‧  Althea Davis  ‧  Jeanie  ‧  Cinnamon  ‧  Mrs. Rostenkowski  ‧  Wyatt  ‧  Claire  ‧  Kurt  ‧  Eric Gablehauser  ‧  Dave Gibbs  ‧  Dimitri  ‧  Alfred Hofstadter   ‧  Meemaw  ‧  Jimmy Speckerman  ‧  Susan  ‧  Randall  ‧  Bert Kibbler  ‧  President Siebert  ‧  Janine Davis  ‧  Richard Williams  ‧  Halley Wolowitz  ‧  Neil Michael Wolowitz  ‧  Denise  ‧  George Cooper Jr.   ‧  Larry Fowler  ‧  Anu  ‧  George Cooper Sr.  ‧  Marissa
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