Nerds and geeks alike are satirized and celebrated in CBS’s hit television show The Big Bang Theory, which has aired since 2007.
The very same intelligent kids that the show lionizes will now have a chance to study science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects at UCLA, thanks to a new endowmnent from show co-creator Chuck Lorre and some of the cast and crew of the show.
Talk about putting your money where your mouth is. Maybe one of the recipients will become the next Steve Wozniak or Bill Gates.
“We have all been given a gift with ‘The Big Bang Theory,’ a show that’s not only based in the scientific community, but also enthusiastically supported by that same community. This is our opportunity to give back,” said executive producer Lorre in a statement.
Starting this fall, twenty students will get grants of varying amounts, each based on need and academic merit. Five more students at UCLA will be added to the endowment each year into perpetuity.
The Big Bang Theory Scholarship Endowment has pulled together $4 million thus far with donations from Lorre and stars Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch, as well as Warner Bros. Television, CBS and other corporate partners.
Bialik herself has a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA for her dissertation on the hypothalamic activity in patients with Prader-Willi syndrome.
Source: LA Times
Rob LeFebvre is an Anchorage, Alaska-based writer and editor who has contributed to various tech, gaming and iOS sites, including 148Apps, Creative Screenwriting, Shelf-Awareness, VentureBeat, and Paste Magazine. Feel free to find Rob on Twitter @roblef, and send him a cookie once in a while; he’ll really appreciate it.
One response to “Big Bang Theory goes from fiction to fact with new scholarship”
The main cast makes north of a million an episode. Supporting just south. So, that’s about 7 million per 19-21 minute episode for just the cast. One wonders what Lorre makes. They won’t feel the slightest twinge from this. I guess it’s better than a kick in the shorts. Still, commensurately, this is like the average wage earner donating 100 bucks to a charity. No one makes a big deal out of that.
/cynic
//with a student loan
///will never be the 1%
////will not make in a lifetime what these fools make in a week.