Sheldon, the main character in the US sitcom The Big Bang Theory, is funny because he’s an extreme version of the stereotypical physicist. He’s ultra-geeky, as demonstrated by his approach to a popular game: “Scissors cuts paper, paper covers rock, rock crushes lizard, lizard poisons Spock, Spock smashes scissors, scissors decapitate lizard, lizard eats paper, paper disproves Spock, Spock vaporizes rock, and as it always has, rock crushes scissors”. Sheldon’s people skills are not fantastic, and he often upsets his friends. Sheldon: ‘Why are you crying?’ Penny: ‘Because I’m stupid.’  Sheldon: ‘That’s no reason to cry. One cries because one is sad. For example, I cry because others are stupid, and that makes me sad.’ I’m surprised Sheldon has any friends at all.

A real-life physicist, Professor Russell Cowburn, recently spoke at the Faraday Institute’s annual reception for Christians in the sciences in Cambridge. He used Sheldon to illustrate…