It seems that students of the stars can become stars themselves judging by CBS’s hit television series “The Big Bang Theory.”  The show is a prime time leader in the 18-49 year old age demographic, and is well-worth checking out whether you’re young or young-at-heart.

A scene from a recent episode where Apple  Computer C0-founder Steve Wozniak (right) virtually meets Big Bang Theory character “Sheldon” at a restaurant via Sheldon’s robot (left).  Photo: Robert Voets/CBS

This popular sitcom is about Leonard and Sheldon, who are brilliant physicists, the kind of “beautiful minds” that understand how the universe works. But none of that genius helps them interact with people, especially women. All this begins to change when a free-spirited beauty named Penny moves in next door. Sheldon, Leonard’s roommate, is quite content spending his nights playing Klingon Boggle with their socially dysfunctional friends, fellow CalTech scientists Wolowitz and Koothrappali. However, Leonard sees in Penny a whole new universe of possibilities … including love.

While this all makes for funny episodes, the series is based on real science.  David Saltzberg, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Los Angeles, is a consultant for the program.  He provides the scientific equations, diagrams and jargon that appears in each episode.

With episode titles such as “The Robotic Manipulation,” “The Lunar Excitation,” “The Einstein Approximation,” and “The Lizard-Spock Expansion,” you can see that this is a television series that can make astronomy fun for anyone!  Check out The Big Bang Theory on CBS Thursday evenings at 8 pm Eastern, 7 pm Central.