page_title: List of The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon characters
section_title: Howard
hierarchical_section_title: List of The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon characters / Main characters / The Big Bang Theory main characters / Howard
caption_attribution_description: English: Simon Helberg at PaleyFest 2013 for the TV show "Big Bang Theory"
context_page_description: The American television sitcom The Big Bang Theory, created and executive produced by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, premiered on CBS on September 24, 2007, while the American comedy spin-off prequel television series Young Sheldon, created and executive produced by Lorre alongside Jim Parsons and Steven Molaro, premiered on CBS on September 25, 2017.
  The Big Bang Theory initially centers on five characters: roommates Leonard Hofstadter and Sheldon Cooper, two Caltech physicists; Penny, a waitress and aspiring actress who at the beginning of the program's narrative lives across the hall, later weds Leonard, moves in with him and becomes a pharmaceutical representative, and Leonard and Sheldon's friends and co-workers aerospace engineer Howard Wolowitz, and astrophysicist Raj Koothrappali.
  Over time, several supporting characters have been introduced and promoted to starring roles, including coworker and romantic partner of Leonard Leslie Winkle, Sheldon's wife Amy Farrah Fowler, Howard's wife Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz, comic book store proprietor and friend of the other characters Stuart Bloom, and Emily Sweeney.
context_section_description: Howard Joel Wolowitz, M.Eng. (Simon Helberg) is an aerospace engineer at Caltech's Department of Applied Physics, who often hangs out at Leonard and Sheldon's apartment. Unlike Sheldon, Leonard, and Raj, Howard does not have a doctorate, and often gets disparaged as a result, especially by Sheldon. He defends this by pointing out that he has a master's degree in Engineering from MIT and that the equipment he designs is launched into space, unlike the theoretical work of his friends. In the fifth-season finale, Howard goes to the International Space Station on Expedition 31.
  Howard lives in Altadena with his domineering, belittling, and unseen mother, who treats him like a child. While he sometimes expresses irritation at this treatment, for the most part, he appears to prefer it. Howard dotes on his mother and participates in many of her daily routines. A recurring gimmick in the series is Howard and his mother communicating with each other from different rooms by yelling, a habit which Bernadette also adopts in later episodes. His father left them when he was 11, and Howard gets visibly distressed when the subject comes up. Howard fancies himself a ladies' man and attempts pick-up lines whenever a woman is present, although he drops this habit once he starts going out with Bernadette. He is Jewish, but is not serious about his faith, and does not keep kosher. However, he does observe the Sabbath and the Jewish holidays.
  In the pilot episode, he speaks English, French, Mandarin, Russian, Arabic, and Persian, along with fictional languages like Klingon and Sindarin. Howard suffers from asthma, transient idiopathic arrhythmia, allergies to peanuts, almonds, and walnuts, and is prone to canker sores and pink eye. Howard dated Bernadette briefly in season three. After some difficulties, they resumed their relationship in season four, which culminated in their engagement. In the fifth-season finale, Howard and Bernadette are married on the roof of the apartment building shortly before he has to leave for Kazakhstan, where he is to be sent to the International Space Station. In season six, he finally leaves his mother's house and moves into Bernadette's apartment. In the episode "The Comic Book Store Regeneration", Howard's mother passes away in her sleep while in Florida, prompting him to move back into his home with Bernadette. Stuart, the owner of the guys' favorite comic book store, also moves in.
  Upon learning that Bernadette is pregnant in season nine, Howard panics about handling the impending baby, particularly earning enough money. With the help of his friends, he designs a new form of guidance system that attracts the attention of the Air Force. In "The Birthday Synchronicity", Bernadette gives birth to a girl named Halley, on Amy's birthday, who screams like Howard's late mother, Debbie Wolowitz.
  In season 11, Howard learns that Bernadette is pregnant again and later in the same season in "The Neonatal Nomenclature", Bernadette gives birth to a boy named Neil Michael Wolowitz.
caption: Simon Helberg
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