The Big Bang Theory: 10 Things Sheldon Did That Fans Just Can’t Let Go

For a man who received his first Ph.D. at the age of 16 and won the Nobel Prize, one would have expected Sheldon Cooper to be flawless in his decision-making. Sadly, that wasn’t always the case. Though an extremely likable character, the protagonist appeared to have more academic knowledge than common sense.

Sheldon’s sense of superiority made him treat his friends and love interests badly on several occasions. Luckily for him, they were all understanding enough to take him for who he was. While Leonard, Raj, Howard, Penny, Amy, and Bernadette brushed aside his actions, there are things fans still can’t let go of.

Leaving Raj To Be Attacked By Rats

Sheldon only cares about Sheldon and it showed on several occasions. One time while conducting research on Dark Matter, he and Raj went underground to see if they could survive in harsh environments.

Their research didn’t go well as they were confronted by a group of hostile sewage rats. Without thinking twice, Sheldon took off, leaving Raj behind. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he sealed the location where Raj was, leaving him in total danger. Luckily, Raj also managed to get away. When he confronted Sheldon later on, the physicist had no regrets.

Hanging Penny’s Laundry On The Telephone Wires

Sheldon not only valued his personal things but was also very hygienic. When Penny touched his food without permission, he declared her his Number 1 foe. Not one to miss out on the chance for payback, he began invading her personal space on a regular basis just to piss her off.

He went a bit too far when he decided to take Penny’s clothes away from the Laundry Room and throw them at the telephone wires. With this action, Penny could have lost all her clothes. Luckily, Leonard gave Penny Sheldon’s Kryptonite—his mother’s telephone number. Penny reported him and after being reprimanded, Sheldon had to apologize.

The 45-Day Expedition

Fed up with his unstable love life and frustrating career, Sheldon woke up one day and decided to go on a 45-day expedition across America. He figured there was no mission in this world he couldn’t accomplish.

To no one’s surprise, the journey didn’t end well for him. Sheldon had his phone, money, and pants stolen. He then called Leonard to get him in Arizona. At the police station, he began instructing the commanding officer on how to do his job like Sherlock Holmes.

Downplaying Penny’s Pregnancy

Sheldon finally achieved his lifelong dream of getting the Nobel Prize in the series finale when he was called and informed he was the winner. He and the gang boarded a plane to Stockholm, Sweden to collect the prestigious award.

On the plane, Sheldon discovered that Penny was pregnant. Instead of being happy for her, he claimed that anyone could have a baby but not anyone could win a Nobel Prize. This resulted in a dressing down from both Leonard and Amy. Given that Sheldon’s friends were happy for him, he should have at least been happy for Penny too.

Fighting With Howard Over The Parking Space

As the gang was having lunch at the CalTech cafeteria one day, Howard showed up and announced that he had bought a new car. He invited them to check it out, telling them it was parked in Space 294.

Sheldon immediately became hostile, insisting that Space 294 was his parking spot. He began arguing with Howard about it despite the fact that he didn’t have a car and didn’t know how to drive. Since he had an IQ of 187, Sheldon ought to have used common sense here. Instead, he did something even dumber by trying to push Howard’s car away from the spot.

Taking All The Credit For A Science Research

Since Sheldon never realized when he was rude or selfish, he ended up treating Leonard badly on a couple of occasions. In Season 8. he and Leonard researched and co-wrote a paper that became widely acclaimed among fellow scientists.

Later, Leonard was surprised and saddened to find out that his name hadn’t been listed among the paper’s writers in the magazine that reported about the research. This was all because Sheldon had deliberately refused to include Leonard’s praise. Sheldon thus ended up getting all the praise.

Sabotaging Howard’s Plans To Get A Doctorate

Being the only member of the gang without a doctorate was always hard for Howard. Sheldon frequently joked that engineers like him were the “the Oompa-Loompas of science.” He also felt that they were “noble semi-skilled laborers.”

Howard eventually decided to prove he was smart enough to get a doctorate by enrolling in university classes that were taught by Sheldon. However, Sheldon didn’t take this too kindly so he deliberately asked Howard difficult questions to make him seem less intelligent. As a result, Howard never ended up getting that prized doctorate.

Drinking Heavily Before Making A Speech

In the third season, Sheldon’s god work earned him the Chancellor’s Award for Science at CalTech. However, he was nervous since he had to give an acceptance speech while receiving the award.

This was strange considering that Sheldon had been portrayed as quite confident until that point. His friends tried different techniques to help him prepare for the speech. All those could have worked but then Sheldon chose to gobble down several glasses of wine too to gather courage. As expected, he messed up his speech, even going as far as to take off his pants. A smart person like him should have known what the alcohol would do to him.

The Valentine’s Day Fight

One Valentine’s day saw Leonard heading to Switzerland to spend time at the ERN Laboratory and observe the Large Hadron Collider. Since he had never spent Valentine’s Day with a girl, he wanted to take Penny with him. And though Penny didn’t care about all the science, she wanted to go so that she could ski.

Sheldon complicated things as he wanted Leonard to take him instead. He thus began fighting with Penny regarding who should go, ignoring Leonard’s wish to spend Valentine’s with the love of his life. In the end, both Penny and Sheldon missed out on the trip as they were down with the flu.

He ‘Stole’ Leonard’s Mom

Moms were a big part of both Leonard and Sheldon’s lives. While Sheldon’s mom was concerned about his son’s affairs, Leonard’s mother was mostly cold and disinterested.

This caused Leonard to make several attempts to win her over. He hardly succeeded and Sheldon was aware of this. Instead of letting Leonard work in his relationship with his mother, Sheldon took over and pleased Leonard’s mother when she came to the apartment, making her like him instead. Despite the fact that she rarely praised Leonard’s work, she praised Sheldon, hurting Leonard in the process.