Look, I know you guys don't want to do this,
but we have no choice.
So, you can either bitch and whine
or we can just get it over with.
I got "whine."
I got the "b word."
Yeah, well, it's in our contract
to serve on a university committee.
And frankly,
this is one I believe in.
Okay, here we go.
Encouraging more women to pursue a career in the sciences.
Come on, if I was any good
at convincing women to do stuff,
I wouldn't have spent so much of my 20s in the shower.
If you ask me,
this whole thing is a waste of our time.
Helping women?
Yeah, helping anyone.
People should take care of themselves.
Oh, like yesterday,
when you made me drive you to the dry cleaners,
the pharmacy and the post office?
I'm not saying people can't use tools.
Even an otter picks up a rock when he wants a clam.
You don't think it's worthwhile
to try to get more women working in science.
I think that's incredibly sexist of you.
I believe in a gender-blind society
like in Star Trek, where women and men
of all races and creeds work side by side as equals.
You mean where they were advanced enough
to invent an interstellar warp drive,
but a black lady still answered the space phone?
Oh, I did spend a lot of my
shower time with Lieutenant Uhura.
Howard's disturbing recollections aside,
I don't appreciate being forced to do
banal committee work.
Yes, I know, you're too smart for this.
Exactly.
It's like asking the Human Torch
to heat up your frozen burrito.
Got it.
All right, I'm thinking one way
to counter bias in the peer-review process,
is for papers to be submitted under gender-neutral names.
Like S. Smith
instead of Samantha Smith.
I suppose there is a history of professional women
using their initials, so as not to be pre-judged.
Harry Potter's J.K. Rowling,
uh, Star Trek's D.C. Fontana.
Van Nuys pole-dancer D.D. Melons.
All right, I think we've really helped women today.
Let's fire up the old Xbox.
Guys, please don't make this a school project
where I'm the smart kid doing all the work
while the slackers sit back and watch.
No, we're not.
This time you're the smart kid doing all the work
while the even smarter kids sit back and watch.
So, you think I'm one of the smarter kids?
No, you're a tool I was using to make my point.
♪ Our whole universe was in a hot, dense state ♪
♪ Then nearly 14 billion years ago expansion started... Wait! ♪
♪ The Earth began to cool
♪ The autotrophs began to drool, Neanderthals developed tools ♪
♪ We built the Wall ♪ We built the pyramids ♪
♪ Math, Science, History, unraveling the mystery ♪
♪ That all started with a big bang ♪
♪ Bang! ♪
♪ The Big Bang Theory 6x18 ♪ The Contractual Obligation Implementation Original Air Date on March 7, 2013
== sync, corrected by elderman ==
Guys, our topic is "Encouraging Women in Science."
Can you at least play a less sexist game
How is it sexist?
My character wields a battle axe as well as any man.
Not to mention she has mammary glands
that could nurse a family of 30.
And have enough milk left over to open a Baskin Robbins.
Mother, warrior-princess, franchise owner--
I hear glass ceilings shattering all over town.
Sheldon, you're always saying
how much smarter you are than me.
Spend five seconds and come up with one idea
on how to get more women into science.
All your ideas address the issue at a university level.
By then it's too late.
You need to design an outreach program
that targets girls at the middle school level
and sets them on an academic track
towards the hard sciences.
That's actually good.
Why didn't I think of that?
Some people are otters, some people are rocks.
I wonder if there's a way
we could give the idea a trial run.
Maybe I could call my old middle school,
see if we can talk to some of the female students.
That's great-- try to set up something
for the three of us to go over there.
Oh, hold on.
While I'm comfortable speaking about science,
I'm not sure I know how to spark the interest of schoolchildren.
Better Google it.
What exactly are you looking up?
"How do I get 12-year-old girls excited."
No! No!
Thanks again for letting me crash "girls' night."
Are you kidding?
You brought fancy wine and made fondue.
I've slept with guys for less.
It's a joke.
Based on real events.
Anyway, I was hoping I could, uh,
pick your brains a little.
I'm supposed to take Lucy out Friday
and I need a killer first date.
Well, evolutionary biology says that women are attracted
to a man who is steady in the face of danger,
so I recommend an unsafe environment.
Seedy bar on the wrong side of the tracks...
picnic near a lunatic asylum...
a wine tasting on Skid Row.
Eh, Lucy has some, uh, social anxiety issues.
Maybe we could start with something simpler.
Why don't you take her to Disneyland?
You go on Space Mountain,
you're in the dark, she's holding onto you.
Yeah, but you just have to remember,
that ride is shorter than you think
and they take a picture of you at the end,
so make sure you got your clothes back on.
It's a joke.
Based on real events.
Mm, Disneyland?
I don't know.
With all the crowds and the weird characters walking around,
just reminds me too much of India.
I haven't been to Disneyland since I was a kid.
We should definitely go one weekend.
Weekends are too crowded.
So, blow off work, go on a weekday.
Hooky?
I've never played hooky in my life.
My mom said that's how girls end up
addicted to reefer and jazz music.
It's more like how girls end up at a Best Western hotel
with a 34-year-old guy named Luther.
Joke?
I can laugh about it now.
So, what do you say?
This Friday we ditch work and go to Disneyland?
I'm in.
Me, too.
Excuse me,
I thought we were trying to solve my problem?
Oh, yeah, right.
Wait, what was your problem again?
I am a man who can't talk to women,
trying to figure out how to go on a romantic date
with a girl who suffers from such crippling
social anxiety she can't be around other people.
Yeah, that's a toughie.
Let's think.
Hmm.
We doing just Disney or California Adventure, too?
It's nice of your old school
to let us try out our science talk on some female students.
Well, they're actually pretty excited.
I'm their most famous alum.
If you don't count the serial killer
who ate all those prostitutes.
This must feel pretty good for you,
coming back to your alma mater as an astronaut.
Yeah, last time I was here, I was just a scrawny little nerd.
And now you're also an astronaut.
So many memories.
I mean, how many times in these hallways
was I tripped, punched and spit on?
Oh, look, here's my old locker.
I have a masters in engineering
and I still can't figure out how Scott Kapinski
got me and my briefcase to fit in there.
Hey.
What?
Nothing.
Smart. We don't want any problems.
I can't believe I ditched work for Disneyland.
What did you tell your boss?
Oh, I was very clever, I did it in stages.
At 7:00 last night,
I called about a problem at the lab
and casually mentioned I was going out for seafood.
At 9:30,
I called and told him that one of my scallops tasted weird.
At 11:30, I called and said
I was throwing up like a fire hose.
At 12:45, I called and made nothing but dry heaving sounds,
and now I'm going to Disneyland.
Penny, what did you say?
I work at the Cheesecake Factory,
I said "bye."
So, what are we gonna do first?
I don't know about you guys,
but I'm gonna make a beeline for the place
that gives you a princess makeover.
Ooh, that sounds like fun.
You're kidding, right?
We're not just gonna get drunk and go on rides?
Come on, do it with us.
All right, whatever.
How does it work?
Okay, so, you pick your princess--
Sleeping Beauty, Snow White Cinderella--
they give you hair, makeup, the works.
Guess it would be fun to be Cinderella.
Oh, I want to be Cinderella, too. Yeah.
We can't all be Cinderella.
Then how do we decide?
Well, it's simple.
This was my idea.
I'm driving.
I'm Cinderella.
You bitches got a problem with that,
we could stop the car right now.
Excuse me, I'm meeting a girl here.
It's kind of our first date.
In a library?
She and I are both a little awkward
in social situations, so this seemed like a good idea.
People say I'm a little awkward, too.
May I join you?
No, you can't join us.
Just go-go climb back up
whatever beanstalk you came down from.
You can do better.
Oh, we're eating here?
We're having a texting date?
I love that.
As you're reading, it will help to remember
I have an adorable accent.
Okay, who's ready for some science?
Me, too.
Okay, I am Dr. Leonard Hofstadter.
I am here with my friends Dr. Cooper
and real-life astronaut Howard Wolowitz,
and we are going to show you girls
how cool a job in science can be.
How cool, you ask?
Well, how about negative 273 degrees,
'cause that's the temperature
at which entropy reaches its minimum value.
Did I just learn something new and have fun doing it?
What?
All right!
So now let's bring out
theoretical physicist
Dr. Sheldon Cooper.
Hello, female children.
Allow me to inspire you
with a story about a great female scientist.
Polish-born, French-educated Madame Curie.
Codiscoverer of radioactivity,
she was a hero
of science... until her hair fell out;
her vomit and stool became filled with blood...
and she was poisoned
to death by her own discovery.
With a little hard work,
I see no reason why that can't happen to any of you.
Are we done?
Can we go?
The thing to remember is
you can go to outer space, too.
I mean, look at me.
I went to this very school.
Those desks you're sitting in,
I was once superglued to one of them.
Did you go to the moon?
No, but I did go
to the International Space Station.
Did you fly the rocket?
No,
but I was in the rocket.
I didn't actually...
So you just flew around? That's kind of like my uncle.
He's a flight attendant.
No...
I'm an American hero.
Your uncle brings people nuts, okay?
Boy, we are learning a lot here, huh?
Thank you, astronaut Howard.
Um, I am what's called an experimental physicist,
which is super-fun, because I get to test theories
and work with lasers.
Yes?
How did you decide to become a scientist?
Uh, excellent question.
Um, I suppose I've always been into science, you know...
My mother and father are scientists,
so I was kind of led in that direction.
Eh, pushed might be a better way to describe it.
To be honest with you guys,
when I was your age,
I wanted to be a rap star.
Like Snoop Dogg,
but with a healthy respect for the police.
Yeah, no, sure, you laugh.
Just like my mother did.
After I confided, I was derided
and chided, my moms and I collided.
She said my dreams were misguided.
That's just a little freestyle.
My dad's a gynecologist in India,
so if you're over there and need a check up,
as he likes to say, he's "at your cervix."
That's terrible.
Your dad should be sent to the pun-itentiary.
That's a fitting
pun-ishment.
I still don't know what you do for a living.
Web design.
Anything I might have seen?
I don't know.
You ever look at porn Web sites?
No, never.
What is porn?
Sorry. Autocorrect.
That was supposed to say
"prom Web sites."
Ooh, fun. I love prom.
The romance, the gowns,
it's like a fairy tale come to life.
Sorry. Autocorrect.
That was supposed to say,
"I like sports."
I never wanted to play the cello.
How do you meet girls playing the cello?
"Hey, you want to come over to my house
"and listen to me play an instrument
that sounds like a suicidal bumblebee?"
Quick, pull the fire alarm.
Let's get out of here.
Uh, hello again.
Um, yeah, I don't know if women in general
have been actively discouraged from pursuing the sciences,
but it's clear you young women here, today, have been.
While I was listening to my colleagues waste your time,
it occurred to me that it might be much more meaningful
to hear about women in science
from actual women in science,
and, uh, I happen to know two brilliant examples
who have agreed to speak to you on the phone right now.
Uh, Dr. Rostenkowski, Dr. Fowler, are you there?
We're here.
Thank you for taking time out of your very busy schedule
to enlighten these young women.
It's our pleasure.
I'm Dr. Fowler, and I'm a neuroscientist.
And I'm Dr. Rostenkowski Wolowitz,
and I'm a microbiologist.
The world of science needs more women,
but from a young age, we girls are encouraged to care
more about the way we look
than about the power of our minds.
That's true.
Every one of you has the capacity
to be anything you want to be.
Unless you want to be Cinderella.
Come at me.
See what happens.
This was really fun.
My battery's dying, so I'm just gonna talk.
Thanks for today.
I've been trying to do more things that scare me,
and coming here was definitely one of them.
But it was also really nice.
So thanks, and, um,
I'm gonna go.
Maybe I could do one more scary thing
before I go and give you a kiss good-bye?
You know,
if that's okay.
Okay.
Panic attack! Maybe next time.
I'm counting that as foreplay.
Bernie,
I'm home.
You have fun today?
Yes, and I have a surprise for you.
Please be Cinderella. Please be Cinderella.
Well, hello, Prince Charming.
Milady.
Hey, how was your... what?
I can explain.
I played hooky with the girls,
then we all went to Disneyland and got...
What are you doing?
Disneyland. Go on, I'm listening.
Sheldon, all Snow White needs is one little kiss to wake up.
Heard you the first time.
== sync, corrected by elderman ==