Coordinates	39°44′21″N104°59′5″N
bgcolour	#900
colour text	#fff
show name	The Big Bang Theory
genre	Sitcom
creator	Chuck LorreBill Prady
starring	Johnny GaleckiJim ParsonsKaley CuocoSimon HelbergKunal NayyarSara GilbertMelissa RauchMayim Bialik
theme music composer	Barenaked Ladies
opentheme	"Big Bang Theory Theme"
country	United States
language	English
num seasons	4
num episodes	87
list episodes	List of The Big Bang Theory episodes
executive producer	Chuck LorreBill PradyLee AronsohnSteve Molaro
producer	Faye Oshima Belyeu
editor	Peter Chakos
location	Studio 25, Warner Brothers StudiosBurbank, California
camera	Multi-camera
runtime	21 minutes (without commercials)
network	CBS
picture format	1080i (HDTV)
audio format	Dolby Digital 5.1
first aired
last aired	present
status	Returning series
website	http://www.cbs.com/primetime/big_bang_theory
production website	}}

''The Big Bang Theory'' is an American sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom serve as executive producers on the show, along with Lee Aronsohn and Steve Molaro, who are two of the head writers. It premiered on CBS on September 24, 2007.

Set in Pasadena, California, the show is centered on five characters: two roommate geniuses who work at the California Institute of Technology, experimental physicist Leonard Hofstadter and theoretical physicist Sheldon Cooper; their neighbor across the hall Penny, an attractive blonde waitress and aspiring actress; and Leonard and Sheldon's equally geeky and socially awkward co-workers and friends Howard Wolowitz, an aerospace engineer and a non-PhD from JPL, and Rajesh Koothrappali, a particle astrophysicist also working at Caltech. The geekiness and intellect of the four guys is contrasted for comic effect with Penny's social skills and common sense. Three other supporting characters have also been promoted to main cast status for a few episodes: Leslie Winkle, a Caltech colleague and ex-lover of Leonard; Bernadette, a microbiology graduate who has worked with Penny part-time as a waitress, dated and recently become engaged to Howard, and earned her PhD; and Amy Farrah Fowler, a neurobiologist who was hooked up with Sheldon via an online dating service (courtesy of Howard and Raj, who were later horrified when Amy turned out to be essentially a female version of Sheldon).

The show is produced by Warner Bros. Television and Chuck Lorre Productions. In August 2009, the sitcom won the best comedy series TCA award and Jim Parsons won the award for individual achievement in comedy. In 2010, the show won the People's Choice Award for Favorite Comedy, while Parsons won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. On January 16, 2011, Parsons was awarded a Golden Globe by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical, an award that was presented by co-star Kaley Cuoco.

When the third season premiered on September 21, 2009, it ranked as CBS's highest-rated show of that evening in the adults 18–49 demographic (4.6/10), along with a then series-high 12.83 million viewers. On May 19, 2010, it was announced that CBS would be moving the show to Thursdays at 8:00 ET for the 2010–2011 schedule. On January 12, 2011, CBS announced that the show has been renewed for an additional three years, extending it through the 2013–2014 season.

Production

The show's initial pilot, developed for the 2006–07 television season, was substantially different from its current form. The only characters from the initial pilot that were kept for the reshot pilot and series were Leonard and Sheldon (portrayed by Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons respectively). The cast was rounded off by two female leads: Amanda Walsh as Katie, "a street-hardened, tough-as-nails woman with a vulnerable interior" who the boys meet after she breaks up with her boyfriend and invite to live in their apartment (Katie was effectively replaced by Penny in the second pilot); and Iris Bahr as Gilda, a scientist colleague and friend of the boys who was threatened by Katie's presence. The initial pilot used Thomas Dolby's hit "She Blinded Me With Science" as theme music.

The series was not picked up, but the creators were given an opportunity to retool the show and produce a second pilot. They brought in the remaining cast and retooled the show to its final format. The original unaired pilot has never been officially released, but it has circulated on the Internet. On the evolution of the show, Lorre said "We did the 'Big Bang Pilot' about two and a half years ago, and it sucked... but there were two remarkable things that worked perfectly, and that was Johnny and Jim. We rewrote the thing entirely, and then we were blessed with Kaley and Simon and Kunal." As to whether the world will ever see that original pilot, maybe on a DVD, Lorre said "Wow that would be something, we will see. Show your failures..." The second pilot of ''The Big Bang Theory'' was directed by James Burrows, who did not continue with the show. This reworked pilot led to a 13-episode order by CBS on May 14, 2007. Prior to its airing on CBS, the pilot episode was distributed on iTunes free of charge. The show premiered September 24, 2007, and was picked-up for a full 22-episode season on October 19, 2007. However, production was halted on November 6, 2007 due to the Writers Guild of America strike. The series returned on March 17, 2008 in an earlier time slot and ultimately only 17 episodes were produced. After the strike ended, the show was picked up for a second season airing in the 2008–2009 season, premiering in the same time slot on September 22, 2008. With increasing ratings, the show received a two-year renewal through the 2010–11 season. Since then, the show has been picked up for three more seasons.

David Saltzberg, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Los Angeles, checks scripts and provides dialogue, math equations, and diagrams used as props. According to executive producer/co-creator Bill Prady, "We're working on giving Sheldon an actual problem that he's going to be working on throughout the [first] season so there's actual progress to the boards ... We worked hard to get all the science right."

Several of the actors in ''The Big Bang Theory'' worked together previously on the ''Roseanne'' including Johnny Galecki, Sara Gilbert, and Laurie Metcalf (who plays Sheldon's mother, Mary Cooper). Additionally, Lorre was a writer on the series for several seasons.

Barenaked Ladies wrote and recorded the show's theme song, which describes the history of the universe and the Earth since the dawn of time (according to the eponymous theory). Ed Robertson, a lead singer and guitarist in the band, was asked by Lorre and Prady to write a theme song for the show. Having been asked to write songs for other films and shows only to have them rejected in favor of another artist's, Robertson agreed to write a theme only after learning that he was the sole writer that Lorre and Prady had asked. He drew inspiration from Simon Singh's book, ''Big Bang'', which he had just finished reading. On October 9, 2007, a full-length (1 minute and 45 seconds) version of the song was released commercially.

In a 2010 issue of ''TV Guide'', the show’s opening title sequence ranked #6 on a list of television's top 10 credits sequences, as selected by readers.

Production costs

For the first three seasons, Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco, and Jim Parsons, the three main stars of the show, received at most $60,000 per episode. The salary for the three went up to $200,000 per episode for the fourth season. According to their contracts, their pay per episode will go up an additional $50,000 per episode in each of the following three seasons, culminating in $350,000 per episode in the seventh season.

Main cast

Regular

These actors have been credited in all episodes of the series: Johnny Galecki as Leonard Hofstadter, Ph.D. – An experimental physicist with an IQ of 173 who received his Ph.D. when he was 24 years old. He shares an apartment with colleague and friend Sheldon Cooper. The writers immediately implied a potential romance between him and neighbor Penny, and their sexual tension is a frequently explored drama. Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper, Ph.D. – Originally from East Texas, he was a child prodigy who began college at the age of 11 (after completing the fifth grade), started graduate studies at 14, and earned a Ph.D. at 16. A theoretical physicist focusing on string theory, he possesses a master's degree, a Ph.D. an Sc.D., and an IQ of 187. He exhibits a strict adherence to routine; a lack of understanding of irony and sarcasm; he is also uninterested in many of the romantic hijinks of Leonard, Howard, and Raj. Sheldon shares an apartment with Leonard Hofstadter, across the hall from Penny, and relies on both for advice in social situations. He often works with lasers, and unsuccessfully attempted to disprove the existence of dark matter. Kaley Cuoco as Penny – The "born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska" blonde who lives across the hall from Sheldon and Leonard. She is pursuing a career in acting, and has been on casting calls and auditions but has not been very successful thus far. To pay the bills, she is a waitress and occasional bartender at The Cheesecake Factory. To date, her last name has not been revealed. Simon Helberg as Howard Wolowitz, M.Eng. – He works as an aerospace engineer. He is Jewish, and lives with his mother. His father left when he was 11, and, to date, he has never learned why. Unlike Sheldon, Leonard, and Raj, Howard lacks a Ph.D. He defends this by pointing out that he has a master's degree in Engineering from MIT and that the apparatus he designs are launched into space, unlike the purely abstract work of his friends. He provides outrageous pick-up lines and fancies himself a lady's man with suitably unimpressed reactions from Penny; however, he has shown limited success with other women. He claims to be a polyglot, although in truth, he isn't (according to a Chinese waiter, he only "thinks he speaks Mandarin"). He and Bernadette Rostenkowski are now engaged. Kunal Nayyar as Rajesh Koothrappali, Ph.D. – Originally from New Delhi, India, and works as a particle astrophysicist at Caltech. His family are very well off. He communicates with them via webcam. He is very shy around women and is physically unable to talk to them unless he drinks alcohol (or thinks he has been drinking alcohol). However, he has often had better luck with women than his overly-confident best friend Howard. His parents, Dr. and Mrs. V.M. Koothrappali, are seen via webcam. During the fourth season, his sister Priya becomes Leonard's girlfriend.

Occasional

These actors were first credited as guest stars and later promoted to main cast. However, even after promotion, they are only credited in episodes in which they appear: Sara Gilbert as Leslie Winkle, Ph.D. (recurring seasons 1–3, starring part of season 2) – a physicist who works in the same lab as Leonard. In appearance she is essentially Leonard's female counterpart, equipped with the black framed glasses and sweat jackets. She is an enemy of Sheldon's, due to their conflicting scientific theories. Though they both consider each other to be intellectually inferior, Leslie is much wittier than Sheldon, regularly calling him "dumbass", and usually bests him in their repartée. Leslie is known for being promiscuous, and she has had casual sex relationships with Leonard and later Howard. Gilbert was promoted to a main cast member during the second season, but was demoted again after the writers realized they could not produce quality material for her for every episode. Melissa Rauch as Bernadette Rostenkowski, Ph.D. (recurring episodes 5-14 season 3, starring since episode 4 of season 4) – initially a waitress and co-worker of Penny paying her way through graduate school microbiology studies, she defends her doctoral thesis and lands a high-paying science position at the end of season 4. Bernadette is introduced to Howard by Penny. At first she and Howard do not get along, as they appear to have nothing in common. When they find out that they both have overbearing mothers, they feel a connection. They are now engaged. Mayim Bialik as Amy Farrah Fowler, Ph.D. (guest episode 23 season 3 until episode 5 of season 4, starring since episode 8 of season 4) – a woman Raj and Howard met on an online dating site after secretly setting up an account using Sheldon's name and information. The site matches her to Sheldon, and the two share many similar traits. Once she and Sheldon meet, she becomes, as Sheldon puts it, a girl who is his friend, but not his "girlfriend". Like Bialik, Fowler has a doctorate in neuroscience.

Elements of the show

Science

Much of the show focuses on science, particularly physics. The four main male characters are employed at Caltech and have science-related occupations. The characters frequently banter about scientific theories or news (notably in the cold open), and make science-related jokes.

Science has also interfered with the character's romantic lives. Leslie broke up with Leonard when he sided with Sheldon in his support for string theory rather than her support for loop quantum gravity. When Bernadette took an interest in Leonard's work, it made both Penny and Howard jealous and resulted in Howard confronting Leonard, and Penny asking Sheldon to teach her physics. Sheldon and Amy also briefly ended their relationship after an argument over which of their fields was superior to the other's.

Leonard and Penny's relationship

One of the recurring themes is the relationship between Leonard and Penny. Leonard becomes attracted to Penny within seconds of seeing her in the pilot episode. The season frequently featured Leonard's attraction to Penny as a basis for humor. Leonard and Penny briefly date at the start of the second season; however, Penny quickly breaks up with Leonard because she is afraid that her educational attainments aren't good enough for Leonard and that he may become bored.

The two date other people throughout the second season, but clearly still have feelings for each other. When Leonard returns from a 3-month expedition to the North Pole season 3 premiere, they commence a relationship which lasts for most of the season until Leonard tells Penny that he loves her and she realizes she can not say it back, and she reluctantly breaks up with him.

Again, both Leonard and Penny go on to date other people; most notably with Leonard dating Raj's sister Priya for much of season 4. Penny has shown regret of her decision to break up with Leonard, and jealousy towards Priya, especially after Priya demanded Leonard stay away from her.

Religion

Religion has played a minor role in the series. Sheldon was raised in a Christian household but currently does not follow a religion. He refers to his childhood as "hell", and a common theme is his constant clashes with his devout mother, Mary, whose creationist beliefs often come into conflict with Sheldon's scientific ones. In "The Lunar Excitation", Sheldon mentions his agreement with Mary that he will attend church once a year. In "The Wheaton Recurrence", after scoring a strike in bowling, Sheldon happily exclaims "Thank you, Jesus!", before hastily adding "...as my mother would say."

Howard and Raj are Jewish and Hindu respectively, and both are similarly semi-observant. Both frequently defy many of the customs and laws of their religion without apparent worry. Notably, both violate the dietary laws of their religions which both they themselves and their friends frequently point out. Both, however, do hold some beliefs of their religion; Raj cites reincarnation and karma, and Howard celebrates at least some of the Jewish holidays.

Vanity card

Like all shows created by Chuck Lorre, ''The Big Bang Theory'' ends by showing a vanity card written by Lorre after the credits. These cards are archived on Lorre's website.

Ratings

U.S. standard ratings

The Big Bang Theory has been highly rated since its premiere. During its fourth season, it became television's highest rated comedy, just barely beating out eight-year champ ''Two and a Half Men''. However, in the age 14-49 demographic (the show's target age range), it was the second highest rated comedy, behind ABC's ''Modern Family''.

! Season	Eastern Time Zone>ET)	! Season premiere	! Season finale	! TV season	! Rank	! Avg. Viewers(in millions)
List of The Big Bang Theory episodes#Season 1: 2007–08>1	Monday 8:30 P.M. (September 24 – November 12, 2007) Monday 8:00 P.M. (March 17 – May 19, 2008)	September 24, 2007	May 19, 2008		#59	8.34
List of The Big Bang Theory episodes#Season 2: 2008–09>2	Monday 8:00 P.M. (September 22, 2008 – May 11, 2009) Monday 9:30 P.M. (February 9, 2009)	September 22, 2008	May 11, 2009		#42	10.01
List of The Big Bang Theory episodes#Season 3: 2009–10>3	Monday 9:30 P.M. (September 21, 2009  – May 24, 2010) Monday 9:00 P.M. (May 3, 2010)	September 21, 2009	May 24, 2010		#12	14.14
List of The Big Bang Theory episodes#Season 4: 2010–11>4	Thursday 8:00 P.M. (September 23, 2010 – May 19, 2011)	September 23, 2010	May 19, 2011		#15	13.13

UK distribution and ratings

The show made its UK debut on Channel 4 on February 14, 2008 bringing in an average audience of 1.0 million viewers. The second episode, shown the following week, also received 1.0 million. For the third episode an average of 1.1 million tuned in. The show is also shown as a 'first-look' on Channel 4's digital offshoot E4, and brings in 400,000 viewers on average. The fifth episode received 880,000 viewers. After the first five episodes, the average number of viewers continues to hover around the 1 million mark. Episode 13 was watched by 1.3 million viewers and was the most watched episode.

In December 2008, Virgin Media made the first nine episodes of the first season available to watch on its TV Choice On Demand service, and the rest of Season 1 was made available in January 2009.

As of December 5, 2009, all 23 episodes of Season 2 were also made available on Virgin Media TV Choice On Demand Service, but both seasons have now been removed.

The third season began airing on E4 and E4 HD on December 17, 2009 at 9.00 pm but was on hiatus between February 25, 2010 until May 6, 2010 when the final 11 episodes of the season aired.

Season 4 began airing on E4 on November 4, 2010 at 9pm. It drew 877,000 viewers, with a further 256,000 watching on the E4+1 hour service. This gave the show an overall total of 1.13 million viewers, making it E4's most watched programme for that week. E4 broke season four after 12 episodes in January 2011. Season four returned on E4 from June 30, 2011 for the remaining episodes.

Canadian ratings

''The Big Bang Theory'' started off quietly in Canada, but managed to garner major success later on in further seasons. The season 4 premiere garnered an estimated 3.1 million viewers across Canada (representing roughly 28 million American viewers in comparison). This is the largest audience for a sitcom since the series finale of ''Friends''. ''The Big Bang Theory'' has pulled ahead and has now become the most watched show in Canada.

Media information

Episodes

International broadcast

! Country / Region	! Network(s)	! Aired	Notes
	Digi+	April 19, 2009 – present	The dialogue is subtitled.
	Warner Channel	November 2007 – present	The dialogue is subtitled.
	Nine Network	Late 2007 – present	New episodes on Wednesdays or Tuesdays (Switches in rotation).
	August 9, 2009 – present	Double episode repeats in rotation, Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The Comedy Channel	2010 – present	Repeats of first and second seasons
	ORF1	March 13, 2010 – present	The dialogue is dubbed. Season 1 is shown as double episodes and will be aired in both SD and HD
	Zee Café		Fourth Season airs from 8 June 2011.Monday-Thursday 11pm.
	La Une	August 31, 2008 – present
	December 21, 2009 – present	The dialogue is subtitled.
	Warner Channel	November 2007 – present	The dialogue is subtitled.
	Warner Channel	November 2007 – present	The dialogue is in English with audio captions with the exception of a version used by the Brazilian company TAM Airlines on planes.
	August 2011 – present	The dialogue will be completely dubbed to Portuguese, aired as ''"Big Bang: A Teoria"'' (Big Bang: The Theory). Aired on the Saturdays with 2 new episodes at 8pm.
	Nova Television (Bulgaria)	November 5, 2008 – presentJanuary 11, 2010
	[[A (TV system)	2007–08, 2009–102008–09, 2010–presentSeptember 20, 2010 – present
	[[Warner Channel	November 2007 – present	The dialogue is subtitled.
	Sohu TV	September 23, 2010 – present	The dialogue is subtitled in Simplified Chinese and English.
	Warner Channel	November 2007 – present	The dialogue is subtitled.
	Warner ChannelTeletica	November 2007 – presentAugust 2009 – present	The dialogue is subtitled. – Teletica Broadcast Is Latin America Spanish-Dubbed
	RTL Televizija	July 2010 – present	The dialogue is subtitled. Aired as ''Teorija velikog praska''. It's airing every Tuesday night. The whole first season will be emitted in that timeslot. In an ad for the series there are parts from the second season, but dates of airing aren't confirmed.
	Multivisión	1st and 2nd seasons	The dialogue is subtitled.
		November 2008 – present	The dialogue is subtitled.
	[[Prima Cool	April 7, 2009 – present	The dialogue is dubbed. Aired as ''Teorie velkého třesku''.
		2009 – present	The dialogue is subtitled.
	Warner Channel		The dialogue is subtitled.
	Warner Channel	November 2007 – present	The dialogue is subtitled.
	Warner Channel	November 2007 – present	The dialogue is subtitled.
	Mai TV
		September 8, 2008 – present	The dialogue is subtitled. Aired as ''Rillit huurussa'' (Foggy Goggles).
	TPS StarNRJ 12MTV	October 18, 2008 – presentOctober 5, 2009 – presentJanuary 2011–present	The dialogue is dubbed.
	Star Channel	September 2009 – present	Double Episode. The dialogue is subtitled.
	ProSieben	July 11, 2009 – present	The dialogue is dubbed.
	Warner Channel		The dialogue is subtitled.
	Warner Channel		The dialogue is subtitled.
	aTV World	March 3, 2011 – present	First two seasons aired in 2011. The dialogue is subtitled.
	Cool TV	December 27, 2009 – present	The dialogue is dubbed. Aired as ''Agymenők''. First two series aired till now.
	Stöð 2	August 19, 2008 – present	The dialogue is subtitled.
	Zee Café		Fourth Season airs from 8 June 2011.Monday-Thursday 11pm
	RTÉ Two	July 11, 2008 – present
	yes stars Comedy	July 2008 – present	The dialogue is subtitled.
		January 19, 2008 – present
Italia 1	September, 2010 – January, 2011	The show received a lot of criticism due to the poor quality of dubbing, which allegedly "dumbed down" most of the nerdy-geeky jokes. To fix this, since episode 9 of season one, the dubbing has been changed to a significantly better quality, characterized by a more faithful translation.
	Super! drama TV	November 7, 2009 – present	Bilingual broadcast, in Japanese and English
		February 21, 2010 – present	The dialogue is subtitled.
	Warner Channel	November 2008 – present	The dialogue is subtitled.
	Season 1: January 11, 2010	The dialogue was completely dubbed to Spanish, aired as ''La Teoría del Big Bang'', two episodes daily from Monday through Thursday. The show received criticism due to the quality of dubbing.
	Zee Café
		March 2, 2009  / August 23, 2010 – present	Only about a dozen episodes were broadcast in March 2009, but the series was given a second chance in August 2010. Broadcast after ''That '70s Show'' on weekday nights on Veronica TV at 8:00pm. Season 4 will be broadcast every Tuesday at 8:30pm and starts at June 14 and after The dialogue is subtitled.
		September 17, 2008 – present	Wednesday 8:30pm. Previously aired on Sunday at 7:30pm and Wednesday at 8:00pm
	Warner Channel
			The dialogue is subtitled. It's also available in HD (TVNorge HD).
	Super ComedyFilmax
	Warner Channel		The dialogue is subtitled.
	Warner Channel	March 2008 – present	The dialogue is subtitled.
	Warner Channel	November 2007 – present	The dialogue is subtitled.Also available in dubbed audio
	Jack TV		Aired on Jack TV
		November 20, 2008 – present	Aired as ''Teoria wielkiego podrywu''.
		July 14, 2008 – present	The dialogue is subtitled. Aired as ''A Teoria do Big Bang''.
	PRO Cinema	May 23, 2011 – present	The dialogue is subtitled. Aired as ''Teoria Big Bang''.
	NTV (Russia)	NTV: April 10, 2010 – June 14, 2010 STS: January 24, 2011 -present	Aired as ''Теория большого взрыва'' on both of the channels.
	[[Warner Channel	Season 1: April 5, 2010 – present
	Kanal A	Season 1: February 23, 2009 – March 20, 2009Season 2: May 14, 2011-TBA	Aired as ''Veliki pokovci''. The dialogue is subtitled.
	M-NetSABC3		S1 and S2 aired. S3 currently playing.
	Qook TV – Warner Show	Season 1: July 18, 2010 – present	The dialogue is subtitled.
	Antena.neoxAntena 3 (Spain)		The dialogue is dubbed.Title ''Big Bang Theory''.
	ART TV[[Zee CaféWarner Channel		The dialogue is not dubbed. First three seasons aired until now.
			The dialogue is subtitled.
	True Series	May 26, 2008 – present
		2008 – present
	CNBC-e	September 9, 2008 – present	The dialogue is subtitled.
	Inter (TV channel)	December 7, 2009 – present (MTV)	Aired as ''Теорія великого вибуху'', dialogue is dubbed.
		Season 4 (E4) January 27, 2011 – present	HD feed on [[E4 HD
	[[Warner Channel	November 2007 – present	The dialogue is subtitled.
	Warner Channel	November 2007 – present	The dialogue is subtitled.
		November 2007 – present	The dialogue is subtitled.

DVD/Blu-ray releases

DVD Name	Release dates	Ep #	Additional Information
!Region 1	!Region 2	!Region 4
The Complete First Season	September 2, 2008	January 12, 2009	April 3, 2009		The 3-disc box set includes all 17 episodes. The one extra feature is an 18-minute short entitled "Quantum Mechanics of The Big Bang Theory: Series Cast and Creators on Why It’s Cool to Be a Geek." Running Time: 355 minutes.
The Complete Second Season	September 15, 2009	October 19, 2009	March 3, 2010		The 4-disc box set includes all 23 episodes. Special features include a Gag Reel, "Physicist to the Stars: Real-Life Physicist/UCLA professor David Saltzberg's consulting relationship to the Show", and "Testing the Infinite Hilarity Hypothesis in relation to the Big Bang Theory: Season 2's Unique Characters and Characteristics." Running Time: 481 minutes.
The Complete Third Season	September 14, 2010	September 27, 2010	October 13, 2010		The 3-disc box set includes all 23 episodes. Special features include a set tour with Simon Helberg and Kunal Nayyar, an inside look on the third season and a gag reel. This is the first time a season of the show will be released on Blu-ray Disc in a 2-Disc Set. Running Time: 472 minutes.
The Complete Fourth Season	September 13, 2011	September 26, 2011	October 5, 2011		The 3-disc box set includes all 24 episodes. Special features include the story behind the show's theme song with The Barenaked Ladies, cast interviews with each other and a gag reel. Running time: 529 minutes. Also available in Blu-ray as a 2-disc set.

Online media

Warner Brothers Television controls the online rights for the show. Full episodes are available at tv.com, while short clips and recently aired full episodes are available on cbs.com. They are available on 4OD (UK Channel 4's online service) for a limited time after being shown as repeats. Also in New Zealand episodes are available on TVNZ's Ondemand Service for 4 weeks after airing. Full episodes are also available on Sohu.com in Mainland China.

Syndication

In May 2010, it was reported that the show has been picked up for syndication by both Fox affiliates and TBS. Broadcast of old shows will begin in the fall of 2011. TBS will air the series in primetime on Tuesdays and Thursdays and evenings on Saturdays. Although details of the syndication deal have not been revealed, it was reported the deal "set a record price for a cable off-network sitcom purchase." CTV NETWORK in Canada airs broadcast syndication of the first three seasons starting September 7, 2010, weeknights Monday – Friday @ 7:30 pm local time zone one year ahead of US broadcast syndication and four days a week (Monday – Thursday) on Comedy Network.

Awards and nominations

rowspan="3" rowspan="3" Outstanding Achievement in Comedy Best television comedy or musical series The best 10 Television Programs of the year Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series rowspan="2" Outstanding Achievement in Comedy Choice TV Comedy Outstanding Art Direction For A Multi-Camera Series Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series rowspan="2" Favorite TV Comedy Choice TV: Comedy Outstanding Art Direction For A Multi-Camera Series

Year	Award Show	Category	Result	Recipient(s)
rowspan="3"	2008	1st Ewwy Awards ||	Best Actor in a Comedy Series		Jim Parsons
Best Actress in a Comedy Series
Best Comedy Series
rowspan="10"	2009	61st Primetime Emmy Awards ||	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series		Jim Parsons
Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
Outstanding Art Direction for a Multi-Camera Series
rowspan="2"	TCA Awards	|		Cast and Crew
Individual Achievement in Comedy
rowspan="2"	Satellite Awards	|		Cast and Crew
Best actor in a comedy or musical series
American Film Institute	|		Cast and Crew
rowspan="2"	2nd Ewwy Awards	|		Kaley Cuoco
Best Comedy Series
rowspan="16"	2010	36th People's Choice Awards ||	Favorite TV Comedy
Favorite TV Comedy Actor
rowspan="2"	TCA Awards	|		Cast and Crew
Individual Achievement in Comedy
rowspan="5"	Teen Choice Award	|
Choice TV Actor: Comedy
Choice TV Actress: Comedy
Choice Scene Stealer: Male
Choice Scene Stealer: Male
rowspan="5"	62nd Primetime Emmy Awards	|		Cast and Crew
Outstanding Makeup For A Multi-Camera Series Or Special (Non-Prosthetic)
Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series
Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series
Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control For A Series
rowspan="2"	3rd Ewwy Awards	|		Kunal Nayyar
Best Comedy Series
rowspan="12"	2011	68th Golden Globe Awards ||	Best Series – Musical or Comedy
Best performance in a television series – musical or comedy
rowspan="2"	People's Choice Awards	|
Favorite TV Comedy Actor
rowspan="3"	Teen Choice Awards	|
Choice TV: Actor Comedy
Choice TV: Actress Comedy
rowspan="5"	63rd Primetime Emmy Awards	|		Cast and Crew
Outstanding Picture Editing For A Comedy Series (Single or Multi-Camera)
Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series
Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series
Outstanding Comedy Series

''The Theorists'' controversy

Through the use of his vanity cards at the end of episodes, Lorre alleged that the program had been plagiarised by a show produced and aired in Belarus. Officially titled Теоретики (''The Theorists''), the show features "clones" of the main characters, a similar opening sequence, and what appears to be a very close Russian translation of the scripts. Lorre expressed annoyance and described his inquiry with the Warner Brothers legal department about options. The television production company and station's close relationship with the Belarus government was cited as the reason that any attempt to claim copyright infringement would be in vain because the company copying the episodes is operated by the government.

However, no legal action was required to end production of the knockoff. Dmitriy Tankovich (who plays Leonard's counterpart, "Seva") said in an interview: "I'm upset. At first the actors were told all legal issues were resolved. We didn't know it wasn't the case, so when the creators of ''The Big Bang Theory'' started talking about the show, I was embarrassed. I can't understand why our people first do, and then think. I consider this to be the rock bottom of my career. And I don't want to take part in a stolen show". The show was cancelled shortly afterwards.

References

External links

Vanity Cards Archive for ''The Big Bang Theory''

David Salzberg's (technical consultant for the show) blog describing the science behind each episode

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The Big Bang model is the prevailing cosmological theory of the early development of the universe. The major feature of the Big Bang theory is that the universe was once in an extremely hot and dense state that expanded rapidly (a "Big Bang"). This rapid expansion caused the young universe to cool and resulted in its present continuously expanding state. According to recent measurements, scientific evidence, and observations, the original state happened around 13.7 billion years ago (see age of the Universe), which can be referred to as the time that the Big Bang occurred.

Georges Lemaître proposed what became known as the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe; he called it his "hypothesis of the primeval atom". The framework for the model relies on Albert Einstein's general relativity and on simplifying assumptions (such as homogeneity and isotropy of space). The governing equations had been formulated by Alexander Friedmann. In 1929, Edwin Hubble discovered that the distances to far away galaxies were generally proportional to their redshifts—an idea originally suggested by Lemaître in 1927. Hubble's observation was taken to indicate that all very distant galaxies and clusters have an apparent velocity directly away from our vantage point: the farther away, the higher the apparent velocity.

If the distance between galaxy clusters is increasing today, everything must have been closer together in the past. This idea has been considered in detail back in time to extreme densities and temperatures, and large particle accelerators have been built to experiment on and test such conditions, resulting in significant confirmation of this theory. On the other hand, these accelerators have limited capabilities to probe into such high energy regimes. There is little evidence regarding the absolute earliest instant of the expansion. Thus, the Big Bang theory ''cannot'' and ''does not'' provide any explanation for such an initial condition; rather, it ''describes'' and ''explains'' the general evolution of the universe going forward from that point on. The observed abundances of the light elements throughout the cosmos closely match the calculated predictions for the formation of these elements from nuclear processes in the rapidly expanding and cooling first minutes of the universe, as logically and quantitatively detailed according to Big Bang nucleosynthesis.

Fred Hoyle is credited with coining the term ''Big Bang'' during a 1949 radio broadcast. It is popularly reported that Hoyle, who favored an alternative "steady state" cosmological model, intended this to be pejorative, but Hoyle explicitly denied this and said it was just a striking image meant to highlight the difference between the two models. Hoyle later helped considerably in the effort to understand stellar nucleosynthesis, the nuclear pathway for building certain heavier elements from lighter ones. After the discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation in 1964, and especially when its spectrum (i.e., the amount of radiation measured at each wavelength) was found to match that of thermal radiation from a black body, most scientists were fairly convinced by the evidence that some version of the Big Bang scenario must have occurred.

Motivation and development

The Big Bang theory developed from observations of the structure of the Universe and from theoretical considerations. In 1912 Vesto Slipher measured the first Doppler shift of a "spiral nebula" (spiral nebula is the obsolete term for spiral galaxies), and soon discovered that almost all such nebulae were receding from Earth. He did not grasp the cosmological implications of this fact, and indeed at the time it was highly controversial whether or not these nebulae were "island universes" outside our Milky Way. Ten years later, Alexander Friedmann, a Russian cosmologist and mathematician, derived the Friedmann equations from Albert Einstein's equations of general relativity, showing that the Universe might be expanding in contrast to the static Universe model advocated by Einstein at that time. In 1924, Edwin Hubble's measurement of the great distance to the nearest spiral nebulae showed that these systems were indeed other galaxies. Independently deriving Friedmann's equations in 1927, Georges Lemaître, a Belgian physicist and Roman Catholic priest, proposed that the inferred recession of the nebulae was due to the expansion of the Universe.

In 1931 Lemaître went further and suggested that the evident expansion of the universe, if projected back in time, meant that the further in the past the smaller the universe was, until at some finite time in the past all the mass of the Universe was concentrated into a single point, a "primeval atom" where and when the fabric of time and space came into existence.

Starting in 1924, Hubble painstakingly developed a series of distance indicators, the forerunner of the cosmic distance ladder, using the Hooker telescope at Mount Wilson Observatory. This allowed him to estimate distances to galaxies whose redshifts had already been measured, mostly by Slipher. In 1929, Hubble discovered a correlation between distance and recession velocity—now known as Hubble's law. Lemaître had already shown that this was expected, given the Cosmological Principle.

During the 1930s other ideas were proposed as non-standard cosmologies to explain Hubble's observations, including the Milne model, the oscillatory Universe (originally suggested by Friedmann, but advocated by Albert Einstein and Richard Tolman) and Fritz Zwicky's tired light hypothesis.

After World War II, two distinct possibilities emerged. One was Fred Hoyle's steady state model, whereby new matter would be created as the Universe seemed to expand. In this model, the Universe is roughly the same at any point in time. The other was Lemaître's Big Bang theory, advocated and developed by George Gamow, who introduced big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) and whose associates, Ralph Alpher and Robert Herman, predicted the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB). Ironically, it was Hoyle who coined the phrase that came to be applied to Lemaître's theory, referring to it as "this ''big bang'' idea" during a BBC Radio broadcast in March 1949. For a while, support was split between these two theories. Eventually, the observational evidence, most notably from radio source counts, began to favor Big Bang over Steady State. The discovery and confirmation of the cosmic microwave background radiation in 1964 secured the Big Bang as the best theory of the origin and evolution of the cosmos. Much of the current work in cosmology includes understanding how galaxies form in the context of the Big Bang, understanding the physics of the Universe at earlier and earlier times, and reconciling observations with the basic theory.

Huge strides in Big Bang cosmology have been made since the late 1990s as a result of major advances in telescope technology as well as the analysis of copious data from satellites such as COBE, the Hubble Space Telescope and WMAP. Cosmologists now have fairly precise and accurate measurements of many of the parameters of the Big Bang model, and have made the unexpected discovery that the expansion of the Universe appears to be accelerating.

Overview

Timeline of the Big Bang

Extrapolation of the expansion of the Universe backwards in time using general relativity yields an infinite density and temperature at a finite time in the past. This singularity signals the breakdown of general relativity. How closely we can extrapolate towards the singularity is debated—certainly no closer than the end of the Planck epoch. This singularity is sometimes called "the Big Bang", but the term can also refer to the early hot, dense phase itself, which can be considered the "birth" of our Universe. Based on measurements of the expansion using Type Ia supernovae, measurements of temperature fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background, and measurements of the correlation function of galaxies, the Universe has a calculated age of 13.75 ± 0.11 billion years. The agreement of these three independent measurements strongly supports the ΛCDM model that describes in detail the contents of the Universe.

The earliest phases of the Big Bang are subject to much speculation. In the most common models, the Universe was filled homogeneously and isotropically with an incredibly high energy density, huge temperatures and pressures, and was very rapidly expanding and cooling. Approximately 10⁻³⁷ seconds into the expansion, a phase transition caused a cosmic inflation, during which the Universe grew exponentially. After inflation stopped, the Universe consisted of a quark–gluon plasma, as well as all other elementary particles. Temperatures were so high that the random motions of particles were at relativistic speeds, and particle–antiparticle pairs of all kinds were being continuously created and destroyed in collisions. At some point an unknown reaction called baryogenesis violated the conservation of baryon number, leading to a very small excess of quarks and leptons over antiquarks and antileptons—of the order of one part in 30 million. This resulted in the predominance of matter over antimatter in the present Universe.

The Universe continued to grow in size and fall in temperature, hence the typical energy of each particle was decreasing. Symmetry breaking phase transitions put the fundamental forces of physics and the parameters of elementary particles into their present form. After about 10⁻¹¹ seconds, the picture becomes less speculative, since particle energies drop to values that can be attained in particle physics experiments. At about 10⁻⁶ seconds, quarks and gluons combined to form baryons such as protons and neutrons. The small excess of quarks over antiquarks led to a small excess of baryons over antibaryons. The temperature was now no longer high enough to create new proton–antiproton pairs (similarly for neutrons–antineutrons), so a mass annihilation immediately followed, leaving just one in 10¹⁰ of the original protons and neutrons, and none of their antiparticles. A similar process happened at about 1 second for electrons and positrons. After these annihilations, the remaining protons, neutrons and electrons were no longer moving relativistically and the energy density of the Universe was dominated by photons (with a minor contribution from neutrinos).

A few minutes into the expansion, when the temperature was about a billion (one thousand million; 10⁹; SI prefix giga-) kelvin and the density was about that of air, neutrons combined with protons to form the Universe's deuterium and helium nuclei in a process called Big Bang nucleosynthesis. Most protons remained uncombined as hydrogen nuclei. As the Universe cooled, the rest mass energy density of matter came to gravitationally dominate that of the photon radiation. After about 379,000 years the electrons and nuclei combined into atoms (mostly hydrogen); hence the radiation decoupled from matter and continued through space largely unimpeded. This relic radiation is known as the cosmic microwave background radiation.

Over a long period of time, the slightly denser regions of the nearly uniformly distributed matter gravitationally attracted nearby matter and thus grew even denser, forming gas clouds, stars, galaxies, and the other astronomical structures observable today. The details of this process depend on the amount and type of matter in the Universe. The four possible types of matter are known as cold dark matter, warm dark matter, hot dark matter and baryonic matter. The best measurements available (from WMAP) show that the data is well-fit by a Lambda-CDM model in which dark matter is assumed to be cold (warm dark matter is ruled out by early reionization), and is estimated to make up about 23% of the matter/energy of the universe, while baryonic matter makes up about 4.6%. In an "extended model" which includes hot dark matter in the form of neutrinos, then if the "physical baryon density" Ω_bh² is estimated at about 0.023 (this is different from the 'baryon density' Ω_b expressed as a fraction of the total matter/energy density, which as noted above is about 0.046), and the corresponding cold dark matter density Ω_ch² is about 0.11, the corresponding neutrino density Ω_vh² is estimated to be less than 0.0062.

Independent lines of evidence from Type Ia supernovae and the CMB imply that the Universe today is dominated by a mysterious form of energy known as dark energy, which apparently permeates all of space. The observations suggest 73% of the total energy density of today's Universe is in this form. When the Universe was very young, it was likely infused with dark energy, but with less space and everything closer together, gravity had the upper hand, and it was slowly braking the expansion. But eventually, after numerous billion years of expansion, the growing abundance of dark energy caused the expansion of the Universe to slowly begin to accelerate. Dark energy in its simplest formulation takes the form of the cosmological constant term in Einstein's field equations of general relativity, but its composition and mechanism are unknown and, more generally, the details of its equation of state and relationship with the Standard Model of particle physics continue to be investigated both observationally and theoretically.

All of this cosmic evolution after the inflationary epoch can be rigorously described and modeled by the ΛCDM model of cosmology, which uses the independent frameworks of quantum mechanics and Einstein's General Relativity. As noted above, there is no well-supported model describing the action prior to 10⁻¹⁵ seconds or so. Apparently a new unified theory of quantum gravitation is needed to break this barrier. Understanding this earliest of eras in the history of the Universe is currently one of the greatest unsolved problems in physics.

Underlying assumptions

The Big Bang theory depends on two major assumptions: the universality of physical laws, and the cosmological principle. The cosmological principle states that on large scales the Universe is homogeneous and isotropic.

These ideas were initially taken as postulates, but today there are efforts to test each of them. For example, the first assumption has been tested by observations showing that largest possible deviation of the fine structure constant over much of the age of the universe is of order 10⁻⁵. Also, general relativity has passed stringent tests on the scale of the solar system and binary stars while extrapolation to cosmological scales has been validated by the empirical successes of various aspects of the Big Bang theory.

If the large-scale Universe appears isotropic as viewed from Earth, the cosmological principle can be derived from the simpler Copernican principle, which states that there is no preferred (or special) observer or vantage point. To this end, the cosmological principle has been confirmed to a level of 10⁻⁵ via observations of the CMB. The Universe has been measured to be homogeneous on the largest scales at the 10% level.

FLRW metric

General relativity describes spacetime by a metric, which determines the distances that separate nearby points. The points, which can be galaxies, stars, or other objects, themselves are specified using a coordinate chart or "grid" that is laid down over all spacetime. The cosmological principle implies that the metric should be homogeneous and isotropic on large scales, which uniquely singles out the Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric (FLRW metric). This metric contains a scale factor, which describes how the size of the Universe changes with time. This enables a convenient choice of a coordinate system to be made, called comoving coordinates. In this coordinate system, the grid expands along with the Universe, and objects that are moving only due to the expansion of the Universe remain at fixed points on the grid. While their ''coordinate'' distance (comoving distance) remains constant, the ''physical'' distance between two such comoving points expands proportionally with the scale factor of the Universe.

The Big Bang is not an explosion of matter moving outward to fill an empty universe. Instead, space itself expands with time everywhere and increases the physical distance between two comoving points. Because the FLRW metric assumes a uniform distribution of mass and energy, it applies to our Universe only on large scales—local concentrations of matter such as our galaxy are gravitationally bound and as such do not experience the large-scale expansion of space.

Horizons

An important feature of the Big Bang spacetime is the presence of horizons. Since the Universe has a finite age, and light travels at a finite speed, there may be events in the past whose light has not had time to reach us. This places a limit or a ''past horizon'' on the most distant objects that can be observed. Conversely, because space is expanding, and more distant objects are receding ever more quickly, light emitted by us today may never "catch up" to very distant objects. This defines a ''future horizon'', which limits the events in the future that we will be able to influence. The presence of either type of horizon depends on the details of the FLRW model that describes our Universe. Our understanding of the Universe back to very early times suggests that there is a past horizon, though in practice our view is also limited by the opacity of the Universe at early times. So our view cannot extend further backward in time, though the horizon recedes in space. If the expansion of the Universe continues to accelerate, there is a future horizon as well.

Observational evidence

The earliest and most direct kinds of observational evidence are the Hubble-type expansion seen in the redshifts of galaxies, the detailed measurements of the cosmic microwave background, the abundance of light elements (see Big Bang nucleosynthesis), and today also the large scale distribution and apparent evolution of galaxies which are predicted to occur due to gravitational growth of structure in the standard theory. These are sometimes called ''"the four pillars of the Big Bang theory"''.

Hubble's law and the expansion of space

Observations of distant galaxies and quasars show that these objects are redshifted—the light emitted from them has been shifted to longer wavelengths. This can be seen by taking a frequency spectrum of an object and matching the spectroscopic pattern of emission lines or absorption lines corresponding to atoms of the chemical elements interacting with the light. These redshifts are uniformly isotropic, distributed evenly among the observed objects in all directions. If the redshift is interpreted as a Doppler shift, the recessional velocity of the object can be calculated. For some galaxies, it is possible to estimate distances via the cosmic distance ladder. When the recessional velocities are plotted against these distances, a linear relationship known as Hubble's law is observed: :''v'' = ''H''₀''D'', where

''v'' is the recessional velocity of the galaxy or other distant object,

''D'' is the comoving distance to the object, and

''H''₀ is Hubble's constant, measured to be km/s/Mpc by the WMAP probe.

Hubble's law has two possible explanations. Either we are at the center of an explosion of galaxies—which is untenable given the Copernican Principle—or the Universe is uniformly expanding everywhere. This universal expansion was predicted from general relativity by Alexander Friedmann in 1922 and Georges Lemaître in 1927, well before Hubble made his 1929 analysis and observations, and it remains the cornerstone of the Big Bang theory as developed by Friedmann, Lemaître, Robertson and Walker.

The theory requires the relation ''v'' = ''HD'' to hold at all times, where ''D'' is the comoving distance, ''v'' is the recessional velocity, and ''v'', ''H'', and ''D'' vary as the Universe expands (hence we write ''H''₀ to denote the present-day Hubble "constant"). For distances much smaller than the size of the observable Universe, the Hubble redshift can be thought of as the Doppler shift corresponding to the recession velocity ''v''. However, the redshift is not a true Doppler shift, but rather the result of the expansion of the Universe between the time the light was emitted and the time that it was detected.

That space is undergoing metric expansion is shown by direct observational evidence of the Cosmological Principle and the Copernican Principle, which together with Hubble's law have no other explanation. Astronomical redshifts are extremely isotropic and homogenous, supporting the Cosmological Principle that the Universe looks the same in all directions, along with much other evidence. If the redshifts were the result of an explosion from a center distant from us, they would not be so similar in different directions.

Measurements of the effects of the cosmic microwave background radiation on the dynamics of distant astrophysical systems in 2000 proved the Copernican Principle, that the Earth is not in a central position, on a cosmological scale. Radiation from the Big Bang was demonstrably warmer at earlier times throughout the Universe. Uniform cooling of the cosmic microwave background over billions of years is explainable only if the Universe is experiencing a metric expansion, and excludes the possibility that we are near the unique center of an explosion.

Cosmic microwave background radiation

During the first few days of the Universe, the Universe was in full thermal equilibrium, with photons being continually emitted and absorbed, giving the radiation a blackbody spectrum. As the Universe expanded, it cooled to a temperature at which photons could no longer be created or destroyed. The temperature was still high enough for electrons and nuclei to remain unbound, however, and photons were constantly "reflected" from these free electrons through a process called Thomson scattering. Because of this repeated scattering, the early Universe was opaque to light.

When the temperature fell to a few thousand Kelvin, electrons and nuclei began to combine to form atoms, a process known as recombination. Since photons scatter infrequently from neutral atoms, radiation decoupled from matter when nearly all the electrons had recombined, at the ''epoch of last scattering'', 379,000 years after the Big Bang. These photons make up the CMB that is observed today, and the observed pattern of fluctuations in the CMB is a direct picture of the Universe at this early epoch. The energy of photons was subsequently redshifted by the expansion of the Universe, which preserved the blackbody spectrum but caused its temperature to fall, meaning that the photons now fall into the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The radiation is thought to be observable at every point in the Universe, and comes from all directions with (almost) the same intensity.

In 1964, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson accidentally discovered the cosmic background radiation while conducting diagnostic observations using a new microwave receiver owned by Bell Laboratories. Their discovery provided substantial confirmation of the general CMB predictions—the radiation was found to be isotropic and consistent with a blackbody spectrum of about 3 K—and it pitched the balance of opinion in favor of the Big Bang hypothesis. Penzias and Wilson were awarded a Nobel Prize for their discovery.

thumb|left|The cosmic microwave background spectrum measured by the FIRAS instrument on the [[COBE|COBE satellite is the most-precisely measured black body spectrum in nature. The data points and error bars on this graph are obscured by the theoretical curve.]] In 1989, NASA launched the Cosmic Background Explorer satellite (COBE), and the initial findings, released in 1990, were consistent with the Big Bang's predictions regarding the CMB. COBE found a residual temperature of 2.726 K and in 1992 detected for the first time the fluctuations (anisotropies) in the CMB, at a level of about one part in 10⁵. John C. Mather and George Smoot were awarded the Nobel Prize for their leadership in this work. During the following decade, CMB anisotropies were further investigated by a large number of ground-based and balloon experiments. In 2000–2001, several experiments, most notably BOOMERanG, found the Universe to be almost spatially flat by measuring the typical angular size (the size on the sky) of the anisotropies. (See shape of the Universe.)

In early 2003, the first results of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) were released, yielding what were at the time the most accurate values for some of the cosmological parameters. This spacecraft also disproved several specific cosmic inflation models, but the results were consistent with the inflation theory in general, it confirms too that a sea of cosmic neutrinos permeates the Universe, a clear evidence that the first stars took more than a half-billion years to create a cosmic fog. A new space probe named Planck, with goals similar to WMAP, was launched in May 2009. It is anticipated to soon provide even more accurate measurements of the CMB anisotropies. Many other ground- and balloon-based experiments are also currently running; see Cosmic microwave background experiments.

The background radiation is exceptionally smooth, which presented a problem in that conventional expansion would mean that photons coming from opposite directions in the sky were coming from regions that had never been in contact with each other. The leading explanation for this far reaching equilibrium is that the Universe had a brief period of rapid exponential expansion, called inflation. This would have the effect of driving apart regions that had been in equilibrium, so that all the observable Universe was from the same equilibrated region.

Abundance of primordial elements

Using the Big Bang model it is possible to calculate the concentration of helium-4, helium-3, deuterium and lithium-7 in the Universe as ratios to the amount of ordinary hydrogen, H. All the abundances depend on a single parameter, the ratio of photons to baryons, which itself can be calculated independently from the detailed structure of CMB fluctuations. The ratios predicted (by mass, not by number) are about 0.25 for /, about 10⁻³ for /, about 10⁻⁴ for / and about 10⁻⁹ for /.

The measured abundances all agree at least roughly with those predicted from a single value of the baryon-to-photon ratio. The agreement is excellent for deuterium, close but formally discrepant for , and a factor of two off for ; in the latter two cases there are substantial systematic uncertainties. Nonetheless, the general consistency with abundances predicted by BBN is strong evidence for the Big Bang, as the theory is the only known explanation for the relative abundances of light elements, and it is virtually impossible to "tune" the Big Bang to produce much more or less than 20–30% helium. Indeed there is no obvious reason outside of the Big Bang that, for example, the young Universe (i.e., before star formation, as determined by studying matter supposedly free of stellar nucleosynthesis products) should have more helium than deuterium or more deuterium than , and in constant ratios, too.

Galactic evolution and distribution

Detailed observations of the morphology and distribution of galaxies and quasars provide strong evidence for the Big Bang. A combination of observations and theory suggest that the first quasars and galaxies formed about a billion years after the Big Bang, and since then larger structures have been forming, such as galaxy clusters and superclusters. Populations of stars have been aging and evolving, so that distant galaxies (which are observed as they were in the early Universe) appear very different from nearby galaxies (observed in a more recent state). Moreover, galaxies that formed relatively recently appear markedly different from galaxies formed at similar distances but shortly after the Big Bang. These observations are strong arguments against the steady-state model. Observations of star formation, galaxy and quasar distributions and larger structures agree well with Big Bang simulations of the formation of structure in the Universe and are helping to complete details of the theory.

Other lines of evidence

After some controversy, the age of Universe as estimated from the Hubble expansion and the CMB is now in good agreement with (i.e., slightly larger than) the ages of the oldest stars, both as measured by applying the theory of stellar evolution to globular clusters and through radiometric dating of individual Population II stars.

The prediction that the CMB temperature was higher in the past has been experimentally supported by observations of temperature-sensitive emission lines in gas clouds at high redshift. This prediction also implies that the amplitude of the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect in clusters of galaxies does not depend directly on redshift; this seems to be roughly true, but unfortunately the amplitude does depend on cluster properties which do change substantially over cosmic time, so a precise test is impossible.

==Features, issues and problems== While scientists now prefer the Big Bang model over other cosmological models, the scientific community was once divided between supporters of the Big Bang and those of alternative cosmological models. Throughout the historical development of the subject, problems with the Big Bang theory were posed in the context of a scientific controversy regarding which model could best describe the cosmological observations. With the overwhelming consensus in the community today supporting the Big Bang model, many of these problems are remembered as being mainly of historical interest; the solutions to them have been obtained either through modifications to the theory or as the result of better observations.

The core ideas of the Big Bang—the expansion, the early hot state, the formation of helium, the formation of galaxies—are derived from many observations that are independent from any cosmological model; these include the abundance of light elements, the cosmic microwave background, large scale structure, and the Hubble diagram for Type Ia supernovae.

Precise modern models of the Big Bang appeal to various exotic physical phenomena that have not been observed in terrestrial laboratory experiments or incorporated into the Standard Model of particle physics. Of these features, dark matter is currently the subject to the most active laboratory investigations. Remaining issues, such as the cuspy halo problem and the dwarf galaxy problem of cold dark matter, are not fatal to the dark matter explanation as solutions to such problems exist which involve only further refinements of the theory. Dark energy is also an area of intense interest for scientists, but it is not clear whether direct detection of dark energy will be possible.

On the other hand, inflation and baryogenesis remain somewhat more speculative features of current Big Bang models: they explain important features of the early universe, but could be replaced by alternative ideas without affecting the rest of the theory. Discovering the correct explanations for such phenomena are some of the remaining unsolved problems in physics.

Horizon problem

The horizon problem results from the premise that information cannot travel faster than light. In a Universe of finite age, this sets a limit—the particle horizon—on the separation of any two regions of space that are in causal contact. The observed isotropy of the CMB is problematic in this regard: if the Universe had been dominated by radiation or matter at all times up to the epoch of last scattering, the particle horizon at that time would correspond to about 2 degrees on the sky. There would then be no mechanism to cause wider regions to have the same temperature.

A resolution to this apparent inconsistency is offered by inflationary theory in which a homogeneous and isotropic scalar energy field dominates the Universe at some very early period (before baryogenesis). During inflation, the Universe undergoes exponential expansion, and the particle horizon expands much more rapidly than previously assumed, so that regions presently on opposite sides of the observable Universe are well inside each other's particle horizon. The observed isotropy of the CMB then follows from the fact that this larger region was in causal contact before the beginning of inflation.

Heisenberg's uncertainty principle predicts that during the inflationary phase there would be quantum thermal fluctuations, which would be magnified to cosmic scale. These fluctuations serve as the seeds of all current structure in the Universe. Inflation predicts that the primordial fluctuations are nearly scale invariant and Gaussian, which has been accurately confirmed by measurements of the CMB.

If inflation occurred, exponential expansion would push large regions of space well beyond our observable horizon.

Flatness/oldness problem

The flatness problem (also known as the oldness problem) is an observational problem associated with a Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric. The Universe may have positive, negative or zero spatial curvature depending on its total energy density. Curvature is negative if its density is less than the critical density, positive if greater, and zero at the critical density, in which case space is said to be ''flat''. The problem is that any small departure from the critical density grows with time, and yet the Universe today remains very close to flat. Given that a natural timescale for departure from flatness might be the Planck time, 10⁻⁴³ seconds, the fact that the Universe has reached neither a Heat Death nor a Big Crunch after billions of years requires some explanation. For instance, even at the relatively late age of a few minutes (the time of nucleosynthesis), the Universe density must have been within one part in 10¹⁴ of its critical value, or it would not exist as it does today.

A resolution to this problem is offered by inflationary theory. During the inflationary period, spacetime expanded to such an extent that its curvature would have been smoothed out. Thus, it is theorized that inflation drove the Universe to a very nearly spatially flat state, with almost exactly the critical density.

Magnetic monopoles

The magnetic monopole objection was raised in the late 1970s. Grand unification theories predicted topological defects in space that would manifest as magnetic monopoles. These objects would be produced efficiently in the hot early Universe, resulting in a density much higher than is consistent with observations, given that searches have never found any monopoles. This problem is also resolved by cosmic inflation, which removes all point defects from the observable Universe in the same way that it drives the geometry to flatness.

A resolution to the horizon, flatness, and magnetic monopole problems alternative to cosmic inflation is offered by the Weyl curvature hypothesis.

Baryon asymmetry

It is not yet understood why the Universe has more matter than antimatter. It is generally assumed that when the Universe was young and very hot, it was in statistical equilibrium and contained equal numbers of baryons and antibaryons. However, observations suggest that the Universe, including its most distant parts, is made almost entirely of matter. An unknown process called "baryogenesis" created the asymmetry. For baryogenesis to occur, the Sakharov conditions must be satisfied. These require that baryon number is not conserved, that C-symmetry and CP-symmetry are violated and that the Universe depart from thermodynamic equilibrium. All these conditions occur in the Standard Model, but the effect is not strong enough to explain the present baryon asymmetry.

Globular cluster age

In the mid-1990s, observations of globular clusters appeared to be inconsistent with the Big Bang. Computer simulations that matched the observations of the stellar populations of globular clusters suggested that they were about 15 billion years old, which conflicted with the 13.7 billion year age of the Universe. This issue was generally resolved in the late 1990s when new computer simulations, which included the effects of mass loss due to stellar winds, indicated a much younger age for globular clusters. There still remain some questions as to how accurately the ages of the clusters are measured, but it is clear that these objects are some of the oldest in the Universe.

Dark matter

During the 1970s and 1980s, various observations showed that there is not sufficient visible matter in the Universe to account for the apparent strength of gravitational forces within and between galaxies. This led to the idea that up to 90% of the matter in the Universe is dark matter that does not emit light or interact with normal baryonic matter. In addition, the assumption that the Universe is mostly normal matter led to predictions that were strongly inconsistent with observations. In particular, the Universe today is far more lumpy and contains far less deuterium than can be accounted for without dark matter. While dark matter was initially controversial, it is now indicated by numerous observations: the anisotropies in the CMB, galaxy cluster velocity dispersions, large-scale structure distributions, gravitational lensing studies, and X-ray measurements of galaxy clusters.

The evidence for dark matter comes from its gravitational influence on other matter, and no dark matter particles have been observed in laboratories. Many particle physics candidates for dark matter have been proposed, and several projects to detect them directly are underway.

Dark energy

Measurements of the redshift–magnitude relation for type Ia supernovae indicate that the expansion of the Universe has been accelerating since the Universe was about half its present age. To explain this acceleration, general relativity requires that much of the energy in the Universe consists of a component with large negative pressure, dubbed "dark energy". Dark energy is indicated by several other lines of evidence. Measurements of the cosmic microwave background indicate that the Universe is very nearly spatially flat, and therefore according to general relativity the Universe must have almost exactly the critical density of mass/energy. But the mass density of the Universe can be measured from its gravitational clustering, and is found to have only about 30% of the critical density. Since dark energy does not cluster in the usual way it is the best explanation for the "missing" energy density. Dark energy is also required by two geometrical measures of the overall curvature of the Universe, one using the frequency of gravitational lenses, and the other using the characteristic pattern of the large-scale structure as a cosmic ruler.

Negative pressure is a property of vacuum energy, but the exact nature of dark energy remains one of the great mysteries of the Big Bang. Possible candidates include a cosmological constant and quintessence. Results from the WMAP team in 2008, which combined data from the CMB and other sources, indicate that the contributions to mass/energy density in the Universe today are approximately 73% dark energy, 23% dark matter, 4.6% regular matter and less than 1% neutrinos. The energy density in matter decreases with the expansion of the Universe, but the dark energy density remains constant (or nearly so) as the Universe expands. Therefore matter made up a larger fraction of the total energy of the Universe in the past than it does today, but its fractional contribution will fall in the far future as dark energy becomes even more dominant.

In the ΛCDM, the best current model of the Big Bang, dark energy is explained by the presence of a cosmological constant in the general theory of relativity. However, the size of the constant that properly explains dark energy is surprisingly small relative to naive estimates based on ideas about quantum gravity. Distinguishing between the cosmological constant and other explanations of dark energy is an active area of current research.

The future according to the Big Bang theory

Before observations of dark energy, cosmologists considered two scenarios for the future of the Universe. If the mass density of the Universe were greater than the critical density, then the Universe would reach a maximum size and then begin to collapse. It would become denser and hotter again, ending with a state that was similar to that in which it started—a Big Crunch. Alternatively, if the density in the Universe were equal to or below the critical density, the expansion would slow down, but never stop. Star formation would cease as all the interstellar gas in each galaxy is consumed; stars would burn out leaving white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes. Very gradually, collisions between these would result in mass accumulating into larger and larger black holes. The average temperature of the Universe would asymptotically approach absolute zero—a Big Freeze. Moreover, if the proton were unstable, then baryonic matter would disappear, leaving only radiation and black holes. Eventually, black holes would evaporate by emitting Hawking radiation. The entropy of the Universe would increase to the point where no organized form of energy could be extracted from it, a scenario known as heat death.

Modern observations of accelerated expansion imply that more and more of the currently visible Universe will pass beyond our event horizon and out of contact with us. The eventual result is not known. The ΛCDM model of the Universe contains dark energy in the form of a cosmological constant. This theory suggests that only gravitationally bound systems, such as galaxies, would remain together, and they too would be subject to heat death, as the Universe expands and cools. Other explanations of dark energy—so-called phantom energy theories—suggest that ultimately galaxy clusters, stars, planets, atoms, nuclei and matter itself will be torn apart by the ever-increasing expansion in a so-called Big Rip.

Speculative physics beyond Big Bang theory

While the Big Bang model is well established in cosmology, it is likely to be refined in the future. Little is known about the earliest moments of the Universe's history. The Penrose–Hawking singularity theorems require the existence of a singularity at the beginning of cosmic time. However, these theorems assume that general relativity is correct, but general relativity must break down before the Universe reaches the Planck temperature, and a correct treatment of quantum gravity may avoid the singularity.

Some proposals, each of which entails untested hypotheses, are: models including the Hartle–Hawking no-boundary condition in which the whole of space-time is finite; the Big Bang does represent the limit of time, but without the need for a singularity. Big Bang lattice model states that the Universe at the moment of the Big Bang consists of an infinite lattice of fermions which is smeared over the fundamental domain so it has both rotational, translational and gauge symmetry. The symmetry is the largest symmetry possible and hence the lowest entropy of any state.

brane cosmology models in which inflation is due to the movement of branes in string theory; the pre-Big Bang model; the ekpyrotic model, in which the Big Bang is the result of a collision between branes; and the cyclic model, a variant of the ekpyrotic model in which collisions occur periodically. In the latter model, the Big Bang was preceded by a Big Crunch and the Universe endlessly cycles from one process to the other. chaotic inflation, in which universal inflation ends locally here and there in a random fashion, each end-point leading to a ''bubble universe'' expanding from its own big bang.

Proposals in the last two categories see the Big Bang as an event in a much larger and older Universe, or multiverse, and not the literal beginning.

Religious interpretations

The Big Bang is a scientific theory, and as such is dependent on its agreement with observations. But as a theory which addresses the origins of reality, it has always carried theological and philosophical implications, most notably, the concept of creation ''ex nihilo'' (Latin meaning "out of nothing"). In the 1920s and 1930s almost every major cosmologist preferred an eternal steady state Universe, and several complained that the beginning of time implied by the Big Bang imported religious concepts into physics; this objection was later repeated by supporters of the steady state theory. This perception was enhanced by the fact that the originator of the Big Bang theory, Monsignor Georges Lemaître, was a Roman Catholic priest. Pope Pius XII declared, at the November 22, 1951 opening meeting of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, that the Big Bang theory accorded with the Catholic concept of creation. Conservative Protestant Christian denominations have also welcomed the Big Bang theory as supporting a historical interpretation of the doctrine of creation.

Since the acceptance of the Big Bang as the dominant physical cosmological paradigm, there have been a variety of reactions by religious groups as to its implications for their respective religious cosmologies. Some accept the scientific evidence at face value, while others seek to reconcile the Big Bang with their religious tenets, and others completely reject or ignore the evidence for the Big Bang theory.

Notes

References

Books

Further reading

:''For an annotated list of textbooks and monographs, see physical cosmology.''

External links

Big bang model with animated graphics

Evidence for the Big Bang

Category:Physical cosmology Category:Astrophysics theories *Main Category:Universe

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Coordinates	39°44′21″N104°59′5″N
name	Simon Helberg
birthname	Simon Maxwell Helberg
birth date	December 09, 1980
birth place	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
occupation	Actor/Comedian
years active	2002–present
spouse	Jocelyn Towne (2007-present)
website	}}

Simon Maxwell Helberg (born December 9, 1980) is an American actor and comedian. Helberg is best known for his role as Howard Wolowitz in the sitcom ''The Big Bang Theory''. In its fourth season, he also appeared on the sketch comedy series ''MADtv'' for five episodes.

Personal life

Helberg was born in Los Angeles, California and is the son of German-born actor Sandy Helberg. Inspired by the film ''The Karate Kid'', Helberg trained in karate extensively during his childhood, earning a black belt at age 10. Helberg was raised in Judaism, "Conservative to Reform but more Reform as time went on".

Helberg attended middle and high school at the Crossroads School in Santa Monica, California with Jason Ritter, who would become his roommate at NYU. He attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where he trained at the Atlantic Theater Company.

Helberg is married to actress Jocelyn Towne.

Career

Helberg is one half of the comedy duo Derek & Simon, along with Derek Waters. The two most recently starred together in the web series ''Derek & Simon: The Show'' on the comedy website Super Deluxe, which they created with comedian Bob Odenkirk. Helberg officially joined the cast of ''MADtv'' in 2002 as a feature performer. Helberg's tenure on ''MADtv'' was limited to one season as his contract was not renewed for a second.

Helberg appeared in the 2002 feature film ''National Lampoon's Van Wilder'' as one of the geeky students for whom Van Wilder was throwing a party. He had a minor role in the 2003 movie ''Old School''. In 2004, he was in two episodes of ''Reno 911!'': Student Driver in ''Raineesha X'' and Hooker Buying Son in ''Not Without My Mustache''. He had a small role in Quintuplets, episode 6, Get a Job; as a man called Neil working behind the counter at a shoe shop where Paige and Patton were working.

He also played a small role in the film ''Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story'' as a Jewish record producer. In 2004 he appeared in the film ''A Cinderella Story'' starring Hilary Duff and Chad Michael Murray; Helberg played the minor role of Terry. In George Clooney's 2005 film ''Good Night, and Good Luck'' Helberg had a minor role where he had one line. In 2005 he had a bit part on ''Arrested Development'' as Jeff, an employee of the film studio where Maeby works. From 2006 to 2007, he had a minor supporting role as Alex Dwyer in the drama ''Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip''. In 2006, Helberg appeared in a series of comical TV commercials for Richard Branson's UK financial services company ''Virgin Money''.

Helberg began playing Howard Wolowitz in 2007, as a geeky, "ladies man" with an eccentric fashion sense in the comedy series ''The Big Bang Theory''.

He also appeared as the character Moist in ''Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog'', and had a small role in the pilot of the Judd Apatow-produced sitcom ''Undeclared''. In the 2009 Coen brothers' film ''A Serious Man'' he played junior Rabbi Scott Ginzler. He had a minor role in the Season 4 finale of "The Guild" as one of the Game Masters ("GM").

Filmography

Television

{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%:" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9: |- align="centter" | style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year | style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Show | style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role | style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes |- |rowspan="4" |2001 | ''Popular'' | Gus Latrine | Episode: "Coup" |- | ''Cursed'' | Andy Tinker | Episode: "And then Jack Became the Voice of Cougars" |- | ''Son of the Beach'' | Billy | Episode: "It's Showtime at the Apollo 13!" |- | ''Undeclared'' | Jack | Episode: "Prototype" |- |2002 | ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'' | The Spokesman | Episode: "Time After Time" |- |2002–2003 | ''MADtv'' | Various | Episode: "Episode #8.6" Episode: "Episode #8.7" Episode: "Episode #8.9" Episode: "Episode #8.10" Episode: "Episode #8.16" |- |2003 | ''Less than Perfect'' | Arthur | Episode: "It Takes a Pillage" |- |rowspan="2"|2004 | ''Quintuplets'' | Neil | Episode: "Get a Job" |- | ''Reno 911!'' | Various | Episode: "Not Without My Mustache" Episode: "Raineesha X" |- |rowspan="3"|2005 | ''Unscripted'' | Various | Episode: "Episode #1.5" Episode: "Episode #1.6" |- | ''Life on a Stick'' | Stan/Vinnie | Episode: "Pilot" Episode: "Liking Things the Way They Aren't" |- | ''Arrested Development'' | Jeff | Episode: "Meat the Veals" |- |2004–2006 | ''Joey'' | Seth | Episode: "Joey and the Party" Episode: "Joey and the Assistant " Episode: "Joey and the Big Move" Episode: "Joey and the Wedding" |- |2006 | ''The Jake Effect'' | Bill Skidelsky | Episode: "Flight School" |- |2006–2007 | ''Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip'' | Alex Dwyer | 14 episodes |- |rowspan="2"|2007 | ''Derek and Simon: The Show'' | Simon | 13 Episodes |- | ''The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman'' | Matt Menard | Episode: "Bad Luck Brad" |- |2008'' | ''Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog'' | Moist | Episode: "Act I" Episode: "Act II" Episode: "Act III" |- |2009 | ''61st Primetime Emmy Awards'' | Moist | TV Special |- |2010 | ''The Guild'' | Kevinator- Official Game Master | Season 4- Episode 12: "Guild Hall" |- |2010-present | ''Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil'' | Ronaldo | Recurring Character |- |2007–present | ''The Big Bang Theory'' | Howard Wolowitz | Main Character |- |2011-present | ''Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness'' | Bian Zao | VoiceRecurring Character |}

Film

{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%:" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9: |- align="center" | style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year | style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Film | style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role | style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes |- |1999 | ''Mumford'' | College Roommate | |- |2001 | ''Ruling Class'' | Fred Foster | TV movie |- |rowspan="2"|2002'' | ''The Funkhousers'' | Donnie Funkhouser | TV movie |- | ''Van Wilder'' | Vernon | |- | |''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'' | Computer Wizard | |- |rowspan="2"|2003'' | ''Old School'' | Jerry | |- | ''Tracey Ullman in the Trailer Tales'' | Adam(DGA Trainee) | TV Special |- |2004 | ''A Cinderella Story'' | Terry Anderson | |- |2005 | ''Good Night, and Good Luck.'' | CBS page | |- |rowspan="5"|2006 | ''Derek & Simon: A Bee and a Cigarette'' | Simon | |- | ''The Pity Card'' | Simon | |- | ''Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas'' | Al | |- | ''The TV Set'' | TJ Goldman | |- | ''For Your Consideration'' | Junior Agent | |- |rowspan="4"|2007 | ''Careless'' | Stewart | |- | ''Evan Almighty'' | Staffer | |- | ''Mama's Boy'' | Rathkon | |- | ''Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story'' | Dreidel L'Chaim | |- |2009 | ''A Serious Man'' | Rabbi Scott | |- |}

References

External links

Simon Helberg's Official Twitter Account

Category:1980 births Category:American comedians Category:American film actors Category:American television actors Category:Actors from California Category:Living people Category:New York University alumni Category:People from Los Angeles, California Category:American Jews Category:American people of German-Jewish descent Category:American people of German descent Category:Jewish actors Category:Jewish comedians

ca:Simon Helberg cs:Simon Helberg da:Simon Helberg de:Simon Helberg es:Simon Helberg fa:سایمون هلبرگ fr:Simon Helberg it:Simon Helberg he:סיימון הלברג nl:Simon Helberg pl:Simon Helberg pt:Simon Helberg ru:Хелберг, Саймон sk:Simon Helberg fi:Simon Helberg sv:Simon Helberg uk:Саймон Хелберг

Coordinates	39°44′21″N104°59′5″N
Team name	Justice League
Publisher	DC Comics
Debut	''The Brave and the Bold'' (vol. 1) #28 (February/March 1960)
Creators	Gardner Fox
Base	The Hall and the SatelliteWatchtowerThe RefugeJLI EmbassiesDetroit BunkerSatelliteSecret Sanctuary
Memberlist	List of Justice League members
Cat	teams
Subcat	DC Comics
Hero	y
Sortkey	Justice League }}

The Justice League, also called the Justice League of America or JLA, is a fictional superhero team that appears in comic books published by DC Comics.

First appearing in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (February/March 1960), the League originally appeared with a line-up that included Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash (Barry Allen), Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Aquaman, and the Martian Manhunter. However, the team roster has been rotated throughout the years with characters such as Green Arrow, Captain Marvel, Black Canary, the Atom, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Plastic Man, Red Tornado, Firestorm, Zatanna, other Green Lanterns, and dozens of others. The team received its own comic book title in October 1960, when the first issue was published, and would continue to #261 in April 1987, which was the final issue. Throughout the years, various incarnations or subsections of the team have operated as Justice League America, Justice League Europe, Justice League International, Justice League Task Force, Justice League Elite, and Extreme Justice.

Various comic book series featuring the League have remained generally popular with fans since inception and in most incarnations, its roster includes DC's most popular characters. The League concept has also been adapted into various other entertainment media, including the classic Saturday morning ''Super Friends'' animated series (1973–1986), an unproduced ''Justice League of America'' live-action series, and most recently the animated series ''Justice League'' (2001–2004) and ''Justice League Unlimited'' (2004–2006). A live-action film was in the works in 2008 before being shelved.

Publication history

Silver and Bronze Age / ''Justice League of America''

title	Justice League of America
schedule	Monthly
format	Ongoing
publisher	DC Comics
date	October 1960 – April 1987
issues	261
writers	Gardner FoxGerry Conway
pencillers	Mike SekowskyDick DillinGeorge Pérez
inkers	Sid GreeneDick GiordanoFrank McLaughlin
creators	Gardner FoxMike Sekowsky }}

Having successfully reintroduced a number of their Golden Age superhero characters (Flash, Green Lantern, etc.) during the late 1950s, DC Comics asked writer Gardner Fox to reintroduce the Justice Society of America. Fox, influenced by the popularity of the National Football League and Major League Baseball, decided to change the name of the team from Justice ''Society'' to Justice ''League''. The Justice League of America debuted in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (1960), and after two further appearances in that title, got their own series which quickly became one of the company's best-selling titles. Fox and artist Mike Sekowsky were the creative team for the title's first eight years. Sekowsky's last issue was #63 (June 1968) and Fox departed with #65 (September 1968).

The initial Justice League lineup included seven of the DC superheroes being published regularly at that time: Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, and Wonder Woman. However, Superman and Batman barely featured in most of the stories, not even appearing on the cover most of the time. Three of DC's other surviving or revived characters (Green Arrow, Atom, and Hawkman) were added to the roster over the next four years, the latter two having been revamped by Gardner Fox himself. JLA's early success was indirectly responsible for the creation of the Fantastic Four. In his autobiography Stan Lee relates how, during a round of golf, DC publisher Jack Liebowitz mentioned to Marvel-Timely owner Martin Goodman how well DC's new book (''Justice League'') was selling. Later that day Goodman told Lee to come up with a team of superheroes for Marvel; Lee and Jack Kirby produced the Fantastic Four.

The Justice League operated from a secret cave outside of the small town of Happy Harbor, Rhode Island. A teenager named Lucas "Snapper" Carr tagged along on missions, and he became both the team's mascot and an official member. Snapper, noted for speaking in beatnik dialect and snapping his fingers, helped the League to defeat giant space starfish Starro the Conqueror in the team's first appearance. In ''Justice League of America'' #77 (December 1969), Snapper was tricked into betraying the cave headquarters' secret location to the Joker, resulting in his resignation from the team. His resignation followed the resignations of two of the League's original members, Wonder Woman (in ''Justice League of America'' #69) and J'onn J'onzz (in ''Justice League of America'' #71).

Satellite years

In need of a new secure headquarters, the Justice League moved into an orbiting satellite headquarters in ''Justice League of America'' #78 (February 1970). Black Canary, Phantom Stranger, Elongated Man, Red Tornado, Hawkwoman, Zatanna and Firestorm all joined the team during this period, and Wonder Woman returned. In the first two thirds or so of this era, the team was sometimes said to have a twelve-member limit and/or a "no duplication of powers" policy; this was formally rescinded in ''Justice League of America'' #146, allowing Hawkgirl to join.

Those involved in producing the ''Justice League of America'' comic during the 1970s include writers Denny O'Neil, Mike Friedrich, Len Wein, Elliot S! Maggin, Cary Bates, E. Nelson Bridwell, Steve Englehart and Gerry Conway, with Dick Dillin handling the art chores from issues #64-181, missing only one issue, #153 and did only a framing sequence for #157.

Len Wein wrote issues #100–114 wherein he and Dillin re-introduced the Seven Soldiers of Victory in issues #100-102 and the Freedom Fighters in issues #107-108. In the fall of 1972, Wein and writers Gerry Conway and Steve Englehart crafted a metafictional unofficial crossover spanning titles from both major comics companies. Each comic featured Englehart, Conway, and Wein, as well as Wein's first wife Glynis, interacting with Marvel or DC characters at the Rutland Halloween Parade in Rutland, Vermont. Beginning in ''Amazing Adventures'' #16 (by Englehart with art by Bob Brown and Frank McLaughlin), the story continued in ''Justice League of America'' #103 (by Wein, Dillin and Dick Giordano), and concluded in ''Thor'' #207 (by Conway and penciler John Buscema). As Englehart explained in 2010, "It certainly seemed like a radical concept and we knew that we had to be subtle (laughs) and each story had to stand on its own, but we really worked it out. It's really worthwhile to read those stories back to back to back — it didn't matter to us that one was at DC and two were at Marvel — I think it was us being creative, thinking what would be really cool to do." Libra, a supervillain created by Wein and Dillin in ''Justice League of America'' #111 (May-June 1974), would play a leading role in Grant Morrison's ''Final Crisis'' storyline in 2008.

Writer Gerry Conway had a lengthy association with the title as well. His first ''JLA'' story appeared in issue #125 (December 1975) and he became the series' regular writer with issue #151 (February 1978). With a few exceptions, Conway would write the team's adventures until issue #255 (October 1986). After Dick Dillin's death, George Pérez, Don Heck, and Rich Buckler would rotate as artist on the title. The double-sized anniversary issue #200 (March 1982) was a "jam" featuring a story written by Conway, a framing sequence drawn by Pérez, and chapters drawn by Pat Broderick, Jim Aparo, Dick Giordano, Gil Kane, Carmine Infantino, Brian Bolland, and Joe Kubert. Bolland's chapter gave the artist his "first stab at drawing Batman." Pérez would leave the title as of issue #200 to concentrate on ''The New Teen Titans'' although he would contribute covers to the ''JLA'' through issue #220 (November 1983).

Detroit

Seeking to capitalize on the popularity of their other team books, which focused upon heroes in their late teens/early 20s, Gerry Conway and artist Chuck Patton revamped the Justice League series. After most of the original heroes failed to arrive in order to help the team fend off an invasion of Martians, Aquaman dissolved the League and reformatted its charter to only allow heroes who would devote their full time to the roster. The new team initially consisted of Aquaman, Zatanna, Martian Manhunter, Elongated Man, the Vixen, and a trio of teenage heroes Gypsy, Steel, and Vibe. Aquaman would leave the team after a year and was replaced as leader by the Martian Manhunter. Because of his own edict of only wanting full-time heroes in the League, Aquaman's estranged wife Mera gave him an ultimatum to stay with either the group or with her to salvage their marriage.

Fan response to the series' new direction was largely negative and even the return of Batman to the team in ''Justice League of America'' #250 could not halt the decline of the series. Reader sentiment regarding this incarnation of the Justice League has since been metatextually reflected in the comics themselves. In volume 2 issue #31 the character of Zatanna says, "With our current line-up we couldn't beat Justice League Detroit!" to which Dr. Light responds, "Don't be ridiculous. Everybody can beat Detroit!" The final storyline for the original ''Justice League of America'' series (#258-261) by writer J. M. DeMatteis and artist Luke McDonnell, culminated a story-arc involving long-time Justice League enemy Professor Ivo's murders of Vibe and Steel and the resignations of Vixen, Gypsy, and the Elongated Man during the events of DC's ''Legends'' mini-series, which saw the team disband.

Modern incarnations

''Justice League International''

The 1986 company-wide crossover featured the formation of a new Justice League. The new team was dubbed "Justice League" then "Justice League International" (JLI) and was given a mandate with less of an American focus. The new series, written by Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis with art by Kevin Maguire (and later Adam Hughes), added quirky humor to the team's stories. In this incarnation, the membership consisted partly of heroes from Earths that, prior to their merging in the Crisis on Infinite Earths, were separate. The initial team included Batman, Black Canary, Blue Beetle, Captain Marvel, Doctor Light (a new Japanese female character, emerging from the Crisis of Infinite Earths, not the supervillain who had appeared previously), Doctor Fate, Martian Manhunter, Mister Miracle, and Guy Gardner; and soon after inception, added Booster Gold, Captain Atom, Fire (then known as the Global Guardians' Green Flame), Ice (then known as the Global Guardians' Icemaiden), and two Rocket Reds (one was a Manhunter spy, and one was Dimitri Pushkin). The Giffen/DeMatteis team worked on ''Justice League'' for five years and closed out their run with the "Breakdowns" storyline in 1991 and 1992. The series' humorous tone and high level of characterization proved very popular but writers following Giffen and DeMatteis were unable to maintain the same balance of humor and heroics, resulting in the decline of the series' popularity. New writers gave the storylines a more serious tone and re-focused the team on America, resulting in the book being re-branded ''Justice League America''. By the mid- to late-1990s, with the series' commercial success fading, it was eventually canceled, along with spinoffs ''Justice League Europe'', ''Extreme Justice'', and ''Justice League Task Force''.

''JLA''

title	JLA
schedule	Monthly
format	Ongoing
publisher	DC Comics
date	January 1997 – February 2006
issues	125
writers	Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, Joe Kelly, Denny O'Neil, Chuck Austen, Kurt Busiek, Geoff Johns, Allan Heinberg, Bob Harras
pencillers	Howard PorterBryan HitchDoug Mahnke
inkers	John DellPaul Neary
creators	Grant MorrisonHoward Porter }}

The low sales of the various Justice League spinoff books prompted DC to revamp the League as a single team (all the various branch teams were disbanded) on a single title. A Justice League of America formed in the September 1996 limited series ''Justice League: A Midsummer's Nightmare'' by Mark Waid and Fabian Nicieza, which reunited the "Original Seven" of the League for the first time since Crisis on Infinite Earths. In 1997, DC Comics launched a new Justice League series titled ''JLA'', written by Grant Morrison with art by Howard Porter and inker John Dell.

This series, in an attempt at a "back-to-basics" approach, used as its core the team's original seven members (or their successors): Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash (Wally West), Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner), and the Martian Manhunter. Additionally, the team received a new headquarters, the "Watchtower", based on the Moon. Morrison introduced the idea of the JLA allegorically representing a pantheon of gods, with their different powers and personalities, incorporating such characters as Zauriel, Big Barda, Orion, Huntress, Barbara Gordon (Oracle), Steel (John Henry Irons), and Plastic Man. He also had temporaries as Aztek, Tomorrow Woman, and Green Arrow (Connor Hawke).

Under Morrison, the series pitted the League against a variety of enemies, ranging from murderous White Martians, renegade angels, a new incarnation of the Injustice Gang led by Lex Luthor, the Key awakened from a coma, to the villainy of new villain Prometheus, the alien species of existing JLA villain Starro the Conqueror (revamped as a monstrous creature known as "The Star Conquerer") and Captain Atom villain General Wade Eiling, who transformed a cadre of Marines into deformed super-powered beings known as "The Ultra-Marines" as well as put his mind into the body of the indestructible Shaggy Man, and a futuristic Darkseid. Morrison's run itself featured a myth-arc involving the New Gods preparing the Earth for battle against a creature known as "Maggedon", a super-sentient weapon of mass destruction that was approaching Earth, that culminated in the final Morrison arc "World War III".

The run also had its share of editorial problems, such as Morrison's need to adapt to Superman's changing powers, the death of Wonder Woman and the loss of Green Arrow Connor Hawke, due to plans for a Kevin Smith-penned ''Green Arrow'' series. Still, ''JLA'' quickly became DC's best-selling title, a position it enjoyed off and on for several years. Despite this, DC did not create continuing spinoff series as it had done before.

Morrison departed with issue #41, after which the book saw runs by Mark Waid and Joe Kelly. Subsequent to this, the series switched to a series of rotating writers with issue #91 while Kelly (via ''JLA'' #100) was given a the mini-series ''Justice League Elite'', which featured Green Arrow, Flash, and several other Kelly created characters. The new format saw stories by John Byrne, Chuck Austen, and Kurt Busiek. Geoff Johns and Allan Heinberg would take over the book with #115, which saw a multi-part storyline that dealt with the aftermath of ''Identity Crisis'', and served as a lead-in to the events of "Infinite Crisis", as Superboy-Prime destroyed the Watchtower at the end of issue #119. Bob Harras would ultimately write the book's final storyline (''JLA'' #120-125) as Green Arrow struggled in vain to keep the League afloat.

''52''

In ''52'' Week 24, Firestorm recruits a group to reform the Justice League. It consists of Firehawk, Super-Chief, Bulleteer, and Ambush Bug. They fight a deranged Skeets who takes Super-Chief's powers and kills him as well as numerous people given powers by Lex Luthor's Everyman Project. Afterward, Firestorm breaks up the team.

Also in the series, Luthor's new Infinity, Inc. was informally referred to as a "Justice League" in solicitations and on covers.

''Justice League of America'' (vol. 2)

title	Justice League of America (vol. 2)
schedule	Monthly
format	Ongoing
publisher	DC Comics
date	August 2006 – August 2011
issues	60 (including #0) as of August 2011
writers	Brad MeltzerDwayne McDuffieLen WeinJames Robinson
pencillers	Ed BenesMark BagleyBrett Booth
creators	Brad MeltzerEd Benes }}

One year after the events of ''Infinite Crisis'', Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman reunite in the Batcave to re-form the League in ''Justice League of America'' #0, the kick-off for a new series by Brad Meltzer and Ed Benes. The series featured a roster which included Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Black Canary, Red Arrow (Green Arrow's former sidekick), Red Tornado, Vixen, Black Lightning, and Hawkgirl. The first arc of the series focused upon Red Tornado and pitted the team against a new intelligent incarnation of Solomon Grundy and the rebuilt Amazo. The new incarnation of the team has two main headquarters, linked by a transporter. The first site is The Hall, which in mainstream DC Universe is a refurnished version of the Justice Society of America and the All-Star Squadron's former headquarters located in Washington, D.C. Black Canary is elected as the first official Chairperson after the fight against Amazo and Solomon Grundy, and led both the Justice League and Justice Society in a complex quest to reunite time-lost members of the pre-Crisis Legion of Super-Heroes, who had been sent back in time to free both Bart Allen and Flash from the other dimensional realm of the Speed Force. Meltzer left the series at the end of issue #12, with one of his subplots (Per Degaton, a pre-nuclear fire mutation version of Despero, and a circa 1948 version of the Ultra-Humanite gathering for an unknown plot) resolved in the pages of ''Booster Gold''.

Dwayne McDuffie took over the writing job with the ''Justice League Anniversary Special'' and the main book with issue #13. Due to DC Comics seeking to launch a spin-off Justice League book led by Hal Jordan, the character was removed from the main League series and replaced by John Stewart. Firestorm also joined the roster, with the series entering into a series of tie-in storylines towards ''Countdown to Final Crisis'', with the arrest of a large number of supervillains (gathered by Lex Luthor and Deathstroke to attack the League on the eve of the wedding of Black Canary and Green Arrow) setting up the ''Salvation Run'' tie-in miniseries. Also, roster members Red Tornado and Geo-Force were written out. McDuffie's initial issues received mixed reviews and experienced minor conroversy due to fan favorite Hal Jordan's removal in favor of Stewart. Jordan ended up being restored to the roster by issue #19 of the series, only to be removed once again by issue #31 once ''Justice League: Cry for Justice'' was completed and ready to be shipped.

Issue #21 saw the return of Libra and the Human Flame, setting up their appearances in ''Final Crisis''. Later issues would resolve issues involving Vixen's power level increase and see the integration of the Milestone Comics characters the Shadow Cabinet and Icon, who fought the Justice League over the remains of the villainous Doctor Light. The group suffered greater losses during ''Final Crisis'' with the deaths of Martian Manhunter and Batman, as well as the resignations of Superman and Wonder Woman, who could no longer devote themselves full-time to the League due to the events of the ''New Krypton'' and ''Rise of the Olympian'' storylines in their respective titles. Hal Jordan would also resign as well, clearing the way for John Stewart's return to the team. Black Canary (now team leader) found herself declaring the League no more, though the group would continue with Canary taking a secondary role in the group. Her last act as leader would be assigning John Stewart and Firestorm the task of hunting down the Human Flame, for his part in the murder of Martian Manhunter, as seen in the ''Final Crisis Aftermath: Run!'' miniseries.

Vixen would take over the team, with Plastic Man rejoining the group. Len Wein wrote a three-part fill-in story for ''Justice League of America'' that ran from #35 to #37. McDuffie was fired from the title before he could return, after discussion postings to the DC Comics message board, detailing behind-the-scenes creative decisions on his run, were republished in the rumor column "Lying In The Gutter". James Robinson was announced as the new ''Justice League of America'' writer.

Wein's fill-in run would be published as ''Justice League: Cry For Justice'' neared its conclusion, as Vixen and Black Canary's group (sans John Stewart) would confront Hal Jordan and Green Arrow's makeshift Justice League group, which had stumbled upon a plot by the villain Prometheus that had resulted in much death and carnage. During the confrontation over Jordan's group using torture to extract information from the villains being blackmailed into carrying out Prometheus' plan, both Roy Harper and Supergirl would discover that one of Jordan's heroes, Captain Marvel Jr., was really Prometheus in disguise. In the ensuing battle, the League would suffer horrible losses: Roy Harper was maimed and his daughter Lian and hundreds of thousands of people in Star City would be killed by a doomsday device Prometheus activated. Vixen would have her leg broken and Plastic Man would have his powers permanently scrambled, making him a slowly disintegrating puddle creature. To save other cities from being destroyed like Star City, the League reluctantly allowed Prometheus to go free. However, Green Arrow (with help from the Shade) would track down and kill Prometheus.

Following the events of "Blackest Night", Hal Jordan and Donna Troy begin the task of rebuilding the League, with Green Arrow, the Atom, Batman, Mon-El, Donna, Cyborg, Doctor Light, Starfire, Congorilla, and the Guardian.

At the end of issue #43, the majority of the new members leave for various reasons. Mon-El and the Guardian leave after Mon-El returns to the future, Black Canary returns to the Birds of Prey, Starfire leaves to join the R.E.B.E.L.S., Green Lantern leaves locate the other Lantern Corps Entities, and Green Arrow is forced to leave due to his fugitive status. James Robinson revealed this was due to him having second thoughts about his decision to use so many characters, and revealed that the team would have a different roster in the coming months. To replace the departed members, Jade and Jesse Quick were added to the team. Cyborg remained with the team in a reduced capacity, and was eventually given his own co-feature storyline for issues 48–50.

Under Robinson, the title experienced mixed reviews and lower (but stable) sales than under Meltzer and McDuffie, with negative fan respone being leveled at the series due to its usage of lesser known heroes instead of more popular Justice League members. DC eventually announced that Saint Walker of the Blue Lantern Corps would be joining the Justice League during a tie-in to the ''Reign of Doomsday'' crossover, but the character did not become a full member due to the cancellation of the title.

The series ended with issue #60 in August 2011, with the title being one of the numerous DC books cancelled after the ''Flashpoint'' crossover. The issue saw Batman disbanding the League due to most of the individual members becoming preoccupied with personal commitments.

''Justice League''

title	Justice League
Converted	y
schedule	Monthly
format	Ongoing
publisher	DC Comics
date	August 2011 – present
main char team	Justice League
writers	Geoff Johns
pencillers	Jim Lee
inkers	Scott Williams
colorists	Alex Sinclair
creators	Geoff JohnsJim Lee }}

In September 2011, following the "Flashpoint" storyline, all DC titles were canceled and relaunched with fifty-two new issue #1's, with DC continuity being rebooted again. ''Justice League of America'' was relaunched as ''Justice League'', written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Jim Lee, and was the first of the new titles released, coming out the same day as the final issue of ''Flashpoint''. The first six issues were set five years previously and featured a brand new origin for the team, while issue 7 and beyond will take place in the present day.

The starting line-up of the team consists of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Aquaman, the Flash (Barry Allen), and Cyborg, while the Atom (Ryan Choi), Hawkman (Carter Hall), Firestorm (Ronnie Raymond), Green Arrow (Oliver Queen), Aquaman's wife Mera, Deadman, recently created character Element Woman, and Lady Luck, a revamp of the Golden Age character, are set to join as additional members later on in the future.

In addition to this series, two other ''Justice League''-related titles were launched during the same month: a new ''Justice League International''; written by Dan Jurgens and drawn by Aaron Lopresti; featuring a roster consisting of Batman, Booster Gold, Rocket Red, Vixen, Green Lantern (Guy Gardner), Fire, Ice, August General in Iron, & Godiva, and ''Justice League Dark''; written by Peter Milligan and drawn by Mikel Janin; featuring a roster consisting of John Constantine, Shade, the Changing Man, Madame Xanadu, Deadman, Zatanna, & new character Mindwarp.

Various origins of the Justice League

In a story told in flashback in 1963's ''Justice League of America'' #9, Earth was infiltrated by the Appelaxians. Competing alien warriors were sent to see who could conquer Earth first to determine who will become the new ruler of their home planet. The aliens' attacks drew the attentions of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash (Barry Allen), Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter. While the superheroes individually defeated most of the invaders, the heroes fell prey to a single competitor's attack; only by working together were they able to defeat the competitor. For many years, the heroes heralded this adventure as the event that prompted them to agree to pool resources when confronted with similar menaces.

Years later, however (as revealed in ''Justice League of America'' #144), Green Arrow uncovered inconsistencies in League records and extracted admissions from his colleagues that the seven founders had actually formed the League after the Martian Manhunter was rescued from Martian forces by the other six founders, along with several other heroes including Robin, Robotman, Congo Bill/Congorilla, Rex the Wonder Dog, and even Lois Lane. Green Lantern participated in this first adventure solely as Hal Jordan, due to the fact that he had yet to become the costumed hero at that time (the biggest inconsistency Arrow found, as they celebrated the earlier incident's date, while recounting only the later one's events). When the group formalized their agreement, they suppressed news of it because of anti-Martian hysteria (mirroring the real-world backdrop of Martian scares and anti-communist hysteria of the 1950s). Because the League members had not revealed their identities to each other at the time, they did not realize that Jordan and Green Lantern were one and the same when he turned up in costume during the event described in #9. While most subsequent accounts of the League have made little mention of this first adventure, the animated ''Justice League'' series adapted this tale as the origin of the League as well.

1989's ''Secret Origins'' #32 updated ''Justice League of America'' #9's origin for Post-Crisis continuity. Differences included the inclusion of the original Black Canary as a founding member and the absence of Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman (the 1960s time frame was retained, but the post-Crisis versions of DC's three biggest stars were young and early in their careers in the late 1980s). Additionally, while Hal Jordan served as the public face of the Justice League, this iteration of the League's origin cast the Flash as the team's unofficial leader, since it was Allen who usually came up with the plans that best utilized everyone's powers. 1998's ''JLA: Year One'' limited series, by Mark Waid, Brian Augustyn, and Barry Kitson, further expanded upon the ''Secret Origins'' depiction, with the revelation that the group was secretly financed by Oliver Queen, a.k.a. the superhero Green Arrow. It also stated that Superman rejected membership into the group, leading to much animus between him and the other "founders" during the early years of the group.

In 1994's ''Justice League Task Force'' #16, during Zero Hour, an unknown superhuman named Triumph appeared. In a plotline never explored before, Triumph was revealed to have been a founding member of the Justice League and was their leader. On his first mission with the fledgling Justice League Triumph seemingly "saved the world" but was teleported into a dimensional limbo that also affected the timestream, resulting in no one having any memory of him. This explained how all the heroes ended up in Washington for their first meeting.

Further convolutions came with the issue of Batman's involvement with the League; during the 1990s, the editors of Batman sought to distance Batman from the Justice League, to the point of demanding that Batman's entire Justice League membership be removed from the group's canon. According to Christopher Priest, this "Batman was never in the Justice League" edict came down ironically after DC published ''Justice League America Annual'' #9, which featured Batman as a member of the League during its early days. The edict itself was largely haphazardly enforced; while Mark Waid had Batman proclaim to have never been a member of the League in ''Justice League Incarnations'' #7, other writers such as Grant Morrison and Keith Giffen took the stance that Batman had simply never joined the team until the Justice League International era. This edict was ultimately dropped by the early 2000s, as Batman's involvement with the League is now referenced heavily by later writers such as Brad Meltzer.

The convoluted change made to Hawkman's background in the wake of the launching of the Hawkworld ongoing series, in 1990, resulted in a retcon where the original Golden Age/Justice Society Golden Age Hawkman, Carter Hall was now a member of the team as opposed to Katar Hol (who would now not join the group until 1994's Justice League America #0). The details of how Carter Hall joined the team, would be revealed in the 2001 ''Justice League Incarnations'' #1, with the revelation that Carter joined the team to serve as a mentor for then-young heroes.

In 2006's ''Infinite Crisis'' #7, the formation of "New Earth" (the new name for the Post-Crisis Earth) resulted in the retcon that Wonder Woman was a founding member of the Justice League in the early days. In Brad Meltzer's ''Justice League of America'' (vol. 2) #0 (2006), it was also revealed that both Superman and Batman were founding members as well. ''52 - Week 51'' confirmed that the 1989 ''Secret Origins'' and ''JLA: Year One'' origins were still in canon at that time, with Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman joining the team (consisting of Aquaman, Black Canary, Flash, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter) with founding members' status shortly after the group's formation. However, in various issues (particularly issue #12) of the 2006 ''Justice League of America'' series, the founding members of the Justice League are shown to be: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Flash (Barry Allen), Aquaman, and the Martian Manhunter.

With much of DC's past history rebooted by the 2011 "Flashpoint" event, an entirely new origin for the League is introduced in the subsequent ''Justice League'' series which debuted in September 2011. Issue #1 portrays the first meeting between Batman and Hal Jordan, with the two encountering each other during a battle against a Parademon in Gotham City. After realizing the creature is extraterrestrial in origin, the two heroes head to Metropolis to seek out Superman (who is a known alien in the new continuity), and are attacked by him. Later, after a brief fight to which the Flash arrives and Batman convinces Superman they are on the same side, they move to an abandoned newspress building to work on analyzing the mysterious alien box, when it suddenly activates and more Parademons arrive.While fighting them off, the heroes notice them capture people for something. During this they meet two more heroes Aquaman and Wonder Woman who join them.

Related series

''Formerly Known as the Justice League''

In 2003, Giffen, DeMatteis, and Maguire returned with a separate limited series called ''Formerly Known as the Justice League'' with the same humor as their Justice League run, and featuring some of the same characters in a team called the "Super Buddies" (a parody of the ''Super Friends''). A follow-up limited series, entitled ''I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League'', soon was prepared, although it was delayed due to the events shown in the ''Identity Crisis'' limited series, but was eventually released as the second arc in ''JLA: Classified''. The Super Buddies consisted of Blue Beetle; Booster Gold; Captain Atom, Fire; Mary Marvel; the Elongated Man with his wife, Sue Dibny; Maxwell Lord; and L-Ron. The second story arc of ''JLA: Classified'' focuses on the Super Buddies in a humorous story that features Power Girl, Guy Gardner, and Doctor Fate.

''JLA/Avengers''

In 2003-2004, George Pérez and Kurt Busiek produced a ''JLA/Avengers'' crossover, an idea that had been delayed for 20 years for various reasons. In this limited series, the Justice League and the Avengers were forced to find key artifacts in one another's universe, as well as deal with the threats of villains Krona and the Grandmaster. A key moment in League history occurs in this series, when the Avenger Hawkeye becomes the first Marvel Comics character to be inducted into the Justice League.

''JLA: Classified''

title	JLA: Classified
schedule	Monthly
format	Ended
publisher	DC Comics
date	January 2005 - May 2008
issues	54
writers	various
artists	various
creators	Grant MorrisonEd McGuinness }}

In 2004, DC began an anthology series titled ''JLA: Classified'', which would feature rotating writers and artists producing self-contained story-arcs and aborted mini-series projects that were reappropriated for publication within the pages of the series, starring the JLA. While the bulk of the stories took place within the continuity of the series (circa ''JLA'' #76–113) some of the stories take place outside of regular DC Universe canon. The series was canceled as of issue #54 (May 2008).

''Justice''

In October 2005, DC began publishing the 12-issue miniseries ''Justice'' by writer Jim Krueger, writer/illustrator Alex Ross, and artist Doug Braithwaite. The story, which takes place outside regular DC continuity, has Lex Luthor assembling the Legion of Doom after he and several other villains begin to have nightmares about the end of the world and the failures of the Justice League to prevent said apocalypse. As the Legion begins engaging in unprecedented humanitarian deeds throughout the world, they also launch a series of attacks on the Justice League and their families. In the end however, the threat that the Legion was warned about destroying the Earth turns out to be caused by Brainiac, who seeks to destroy Earth during the chaos.

''Justice League: Cry for Justice''

Originally a planned ongoing title, ''Justice League: Cry For Justice'' is a mini-series written by James Robinson and drawn by Mauro Cascioli. The mini-series, set after the events of ''Final Crisis'', has Hal Jordan leaving the League following the deaths of Batman and Martian Manhunter, as their deaths have caused Hal to seek out a more proactive manner of dealing with super-villains. Hal, along with Green Arrow and later Supergirl, Captain Marvel Jr., and Batwoman are then recruited by Ray Palmer to investigate a murder of a former colleague carried out on orders from Prometheus. This ties into another string of murders, bringing Starman Mikaal Tomas and Congorilla together as their investigation of the murders of several European super-heroes are also revealed to be the work of Prometheus.

With help from the Hawkman villain I.Q., Prometheus plans on creating the ultimate weapon in mass murder, a massive doomsday device which he plans on using to destroy entire cities, as part of his revenge scheme against the JLA for lobotomizing him. Disguised as Captain Marvel Jr., Prometheus maims Roy Harper and brutally injuring JLA members Dr. Light II, Vixen, and Plastic Man while using the JLA Satellite to activate his doomsday device, which destroys Star City, killing 90,000 innocent civilians, including Roy Harper's young daughter Lian. Prometheus ultimately extorts his freedom from the League in exchange for the codes to shut down his weapon, much to the horror of the JLA members. However, afterwards, Green Arrow (with help from reformed villain the Shade), tracks Prometheus down and kills him by firing an arrow into his head.

The mini-series leads directly into the formation of a brand new JLA roster with Green Lantern Hal Jordan, Donna Troy, Dick Grayson as Batman, Doctor Light (Kimiyo Hoshi), Mon-El, Cyborg, Starfire, Congorilla, Guardian, and Mikaal Tomas.

''JLA/The 99''

Launching in October 2010, ''JLA/The 99'' was a crossover mini-series featuring the Justice League teaming up with the heroes of Teshkeel Comics' ''The 99'' series. The JLA consisted of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern (John Stewart), the Flash (Barry Allen), the Atom (Ray Palmer), Doctor Light (Kimiyo Hoshi), Hawkman, and Firestorm (Jason Rusch).

Awards

The original ''Justice League of America'' series has won:

1961 Alley Awards for ''Best Comic Book''

1961 Alley Awards for ''Best Adventure-Hero Group''

1963 Alley Awards for ''Favorite Novel'' ("Crisis on Earth-One/Crisis on Earth-Two" in ''Justice League of America'' #21-22 by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky)

1963 Alley Awards for ''Strip that Should Be Improved''

1963 Alley Awards for ''Artist Preferred on Justice League of America'' (Murphy Anderson)

1973 Shazam Awards for ''Best Inker (Dramatic Division)'' (Dick Giordano)

Collected editions

Silver Age ''Justice League of America''

This series has been collected in the following: {|class="wikitable" |- ! # !! Title !! Material collected |- |1 |''Justice League of America Archives'' volume 1 |''The Brave and the Bold'' #28-30, ''Justice League of America'' #1-6 |- |2 |''Justice League of America Archives'' volume 2 |''Justice League of America'' #7-14 |- |3 |''Justice League of America Archives'' volume 3 |''Justice League of America'' #15-22 |- |4 |''Justice League of America Archives'' volume 4 |''Justice League of America'' #23-30 |- |5 |''Justice League of America Archives'' volume 5 |''Justice League of America'' #31-38, #40* |- |6 |''Justice League of America Archives'' volume 6 |''Justice League of America'' #41-47, #49-50* |- |7 |''Justice League of America Archives'' volume 7 |''Justice League of America'' #51-57, #59-60* |- |8 |''Justice League of America Archives'' volume 8 |''Justice League of America'' #61-66, #68-70* |- |9 |''Justice League of America Archives'' volume 9 |''Justice League of America'' #71-80 |- |10 |''Justice League of America Archives'' volume 10 |''Justice League of America'' #81-93 |}

omitted issues featured reprints of material from earlier Archives.

''Justice League/Justice League International/Justice League America'' (1987–1996)

This series has been collected in the following hardcover collections:

! # !! Title !! Material collected
1	''Justice League International'' Volume 1	''Justice League'' #1-6, ''Justice League International'' (vol. 1) #7
2	''Justice League International'' Volume 2	''Justice League International'' (vol. 1) #8-14, ''Justice League'' Annual #1
3	''Justice League International'' Volume 3	''Justice League International'' (vol. 1) #15-22
4	''Justice League International'' Volume 4	''Justice League International'' (vol. 1) #23-25, ''Justice League America'' #26-30
5	''Justice League International'' Volume 5	''Justice League International Annual'' #2-3, ''Justice League Europe'' #1-6
6	''Justice League International'' Volume 6	''Justice League America'' #31-35, ''Justice League Europe'' #7-11

''JLA'' (January 1997 – February 2006)

This series has been collected in the following trade paperbacks:

! # !! Title !! Material collected
''1''	''New World Order''	''JLA'' #1-4
''2''	''American Dreams''	''JLA'' #5-9
''3''	''Rock of Ages''	''JLA'' #10-15
''4''	''Strength in Numbers''	''JLA'' #16-23, ''JLA Secret Files'' #2, ''Prometheus'' (one-shot)
''5''	''Justice For All''	''JLA'' #24-33
''6''		''JLA'' #34-41
''7''		''JLA'' #42-46, ''JLA Secret Files'' #3, ''JLA 80-Page Giant'' #1
''8''	''Divided We Fall''	''JLA'' #47-54
''9''	''Terror Incognita''	''JLA'' #55-60
''10''	''Golden Perfect''	''JLA'' #61-65
''11''	''The Obsidian Age'' (Book 1)	''JLA'' #66-71
''12''	''The Obsidian Age'' (Book 2)	''JLA'' #72-76
''13''	''Rules of Engagement''	''JLA'' #77-82
''14''	''Trial By Fire''	''JLA'' #84-89
''15''	''The Tenth Circle''	''JLA'' #94-99
''16''		''JLA'' #101-106
''17''	''Syndicate Rules''	''JLA'' #107-114, and a story from ''JLA Secret Files'' 2004
''18''	''Crisis of Conscience''	''JLA'' #115-119
''19''	''World Without a Justice League''	''JLA'' #120-125

This series has been collected in the following hardcover collections:

! # !! Title !! Material collected
''1''	''JLA: The Deluxe Edition'' Vol. 1	''JLA'' #1-9, plus a story included in ''JLA: Secret Files and Origins'' #1
''2''	''JLA: The Deluxe Edition'' Vol. 2	''JLA'' #10-17, ''Prometheus'' (one-shot), plus ''JLA/WILDCATS''
''3''	''JLA: The Deluxe Edition'' Vol. 3	''JLA'' #22-26, 28-31 and 1,000,000''
''4''	''JLA: The Deluxe Edition'' Vol. 4	''JLA'' #34, 36-41, ''JLA: Classified'' #1-3, ''JLA: Earth II''

''Justice League of America'' (vol. 2) (August 2006 – August 2011)

This series has been collected in the following hardcover collections:

! # !! Title !! Material collected
''1''	''The Tornado's Path''	''Justice League of America'' (vol. 2) #1-7
''2''	''The Lightning Saga''	''Justice League of America'' (vol. 2) #0, #8-12; ''Justice Society of America'' (vol. 3) #5-6
''3''	''The Injustice League''	''Justice League of America'' (vol. 2) #13-16; ''JLA Wedding Special'' #1
''4''	''Sanctuary''	''Justice League of America'' (vol. 2) #17-21
''5''	''The Second Coming''	''Justice League of America'' (vol. 2) #22-26
''6''	''When Worlds Collide''	''Justice League of America'' (vol. 2) #27-28, #30-34
''7''	''Team History''	''Justice League of America'' (vol. 2) #38-43
''8''	''The Dark Things''	''Justice League of America'' (vol. 2) #44-48; ''Justice Society of America'' (vol. 3) #41-42
''9''	''Omega''	''Justice League of America'' (vol. 2) #49-53
'' 10	''The Rise of Eclipso''	''Justice League of America'' (vol. 2) #54-60

Miscellaneous reprints

These trades don't reprint the series in a coherent fashion, but reprint themed issues. {|class="wikitable" |- ! # !! Title !! Material collected |- |1 |''Justice League of America Hereby Elects'' |''Justice League of America'' #4, 75, 105-106, 146, 161, and 173-174 |- |2 |''JLA: The Greatest Stories Ever Told'' |''Justice League of America'' #19, 77, 122 and 166-168, Justice League #1, JLA Secret Files #1 and JLA #61 |- |3 |''Crisis on Multiple Earths'' volume 1 |''Justice League of America'' ##21-22, 29-30, 37-38 and 46-47 |- |4 |''Crisis on Multiple Earths'' volume 2 |''Justice League of America'' #55-56, 64-65, 73-74 and 82-83 |- |5 |''Crisis on Multiple Earths'' volume 3 |''Justice League of America'' #91-92, 100-102, 107-108 and 113 |- |6 |''Crisis on Multiple Earths'' volume 4 |''Justice League of America'' #123-124, 135-137 and 147-148 |- |7 |''Crisis on Multiple Earths'' volume 5 |''Justice League of America'' #159-160, 171-172 and 183-185 |}

In other media

See also

Justice Society of America

Spin-off groups

Extreme Justice

Justice Leagues

Justice League Antarctica

Justice League Elite

Justice League Europe

Justice League International

Justice League Task Force

Super Buddies

References

External links

Justice League of America at DC Comics.com

The Origin Story of the Justice League of America at DC Comics.com

Justice League of America at Toonopedia

''Justice League Unlimited'' at Cartoon Network "A Monumental Move" (April 5, 2007) WizardUniverse.com - Writer Brad Meltzer discusses the origins and implications of the JLA's new HQ

The Justice League Library

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Coordinates	39°44′21″N104°59′5″N
Name	George Smoot
Birth name	George Fitzgerald Smoot III
Birth date	February 20, 1945
Birth place	Yukon, Florida, U.S.
Residence	France
Nationality	American
Field	Physics
Work institution	UC Berkeley/LBNL/Université Paris Diderot-Paris 7
Alma mater	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Doctoral advisor	David H. Frisch
Doctoral students
Known for	Cosmic microwave background radiation
Prizes	Albert Einstein Medal (2003) Nobel Prize in Physics (2006) Oersted Medal (2009)
Niece	Anna Smoot }}

George Fitzgerald Smoot III (born February 20, 1945) is an American astrophysicist, cosmologist, Nobel laureate, and $1 million TV quiz show prize winner (''Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?''). He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2006 for his work on COBE with John C. Mather that led to the measurement "of the black body form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation."

This work helped further the big-bang theory of the universe using the Cosmic Background Explorer Satellite (COBE). According to the Nobel Prize committee, "the COBE project can also be regarded as the starting point for cosmology as a precision science." Smoot donated his share of the Nobel Prize money, less travel costs, to a charitable foundation.

Currently he is a professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, senior scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and since 2010, a professor of physics at the Paris Diderot University, France. In 2003, he was awarded the Einstein Medal.

Biography

Early life and education

Smoot was born in Yukon, Florida. He graduated from Upper Arlington High School in Upper Arlington, Ohio, in 1962. He studied mathematics before switching to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he obtained dual bachelor's degrees in mathematics and physics in 1966 and a Ph.D. in particle physics in 1970.

Although Smoot attended MIT, he was not the same Smoot who was laid end to end to measure the Harvard Bridge between Cambridge and Boston; this was his cousin Oliver R. Smoot, an MIT alumnus who later served as the chairman of the American National Standards Institute.

Initial research

George Smoot switched to cosmology and began work at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, collaborating with Luis Walter Alvarez on the HAPPE (High Altitude Particle Physics Experiment), a stratospheric weather balloon designed to detect antimatter in Earth's upper atmosphere, the presence of which was predicted by the now obscure steady state theory of cosmology.

He then took up an interest in cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB), previously discovered by Arno Allan Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson in 1964. There were, at that time, several open questions about this topic, relating directly to fundamental questions about the structure of the universe. Certain models predicted the universe as a whole was rotating, which would have an effect on the CMB: its temperature would depend on the direction of observation. With the help of Alvarez and Richard A. Muller, Smoot developed a differential radiometer which measured the difference in temperature of the CMB between two directions 60 degrees apart. The instrument, which was mounted on a Lockheed U-2 plane, made it possible to determine that the overall rotation of the universe was zero, which was within the limits of accuracy of the instrument. It did, however, detect a variation in the temperature of the CMB of a different sort. That the CMB appears to be at a higher temperature on one side of the sky than on the opposite side, referred to as a dipole pattern, has been explained as a Doppler effect of the Earth's motion relative to the area of CMB emission, which is called the last scattering surface. Such a Doppler effect arises because the Sun, and in fact the Milky Way as a whole, is not stationary, but rather is moving at nearly 600 km/s with respect to the last scattering surface. This is probably due to the gravitational attraction between our galaxy and a concentration of mass like the Great Attractor.

COBE

At that time, the CMB appeared to be perfectly uniform excluding the distortion caused by the Doppler effect as mentioned above. This result contradicted observations of the universe, with various structures such as galaxies and galaxy clusters indicating that the universe was relatively heterogeneous on a small scale. However, these structures formed slowly. Thus, if the universe is heterogeneous today, it would have been heterogeneous at the time of the emission of the CMB as well, and observable today through weak variations in the temperature of the CMB. It was the detection of these anisotropies that Smoot was working on in the late 1970s. He then proposed to NASA a project involving a satellite equipped with a detector that was similar to the one mounted on the U-2 but was more sensitive and not influenced by air pollution. The proposal was accepted and incorporated as one of the instruments of the satellite COBE, which cost US$160 million. COBE was launched on November 18, 1989, after a delay owing to the destruction of the Space Shuttle Challenger. After more than two years of observation and analysis, the COBE research team announced on 23 April 1992 that the satellite had detected tiny fluctuations in the CMB, a breakthrough in the study of the early universe. The observations were "evidence for the birth of the universe" and led Smoot to say regarding the importance of his discovery that "if you're religious, it's like looking at God."

The success of COBE was the outcome of prodigious teamwork involving more than 1,000 researchers, engineers and other participants. John Mather coordinated the entire process and also had primary responsibility for the experiment that revealed the blackbody form of the CMB measured by COBE. George Smoot had main responsibility for measuring the small variations in the temperature of the radiation.

Smoot collaborated with ''San Francisco Chronicle'' journalist Keay Davidson to write the general-audience book ''Wrinkles in Time'', that chronicled his team's efforts. In the book ''The Very First Light'', John Mather and John Boslough complement and broaden the COBE story, and suggest that George Smoot violated team policy by leaking news of COBE's discoveries to the press before NASA's formal announcement, a leak that, to Mather, smacked of self-promotion and betrayal. Smoot eventually apologized for not following the agreed publicity plan and Mather said tensions eventually eased. Mather acknowledged that "George had brought COBE worldwide publicity" the project might not normally have received.

Recent projects

After COBE, Smoot took part in another experiment involving a stratospheric balloon, MAXIMA, which had improved angular resolution compared to COBE, and refined the measurements of the anisotropies of the CMB. Smoot has continued CMB observations and analysis and is currently a collaborator on the third generation CMB anisotropy Planck satellite. He is also a collaborator of the design of the Supernova/Acceleration Probe (SNAP), a satellite which is proposed to measure the properties of dark energy. He has also assisted in analyzing data from the Spitzer Space Telescope in connection with measuring far infrared background radiation.

Public appearances

Shortly after being notified of his Nobel prize, Smoot appeared as the guest conductor of the University of California marching band as it presented a choreographed representation of the Big Bang at halftime of a football game. He followed his performance with a celebratory ramble through Memorial Stadium, greeted row by row and section by section with waves of applause. It was referred to as an "only in Berkeley" occasion. Smoot had a cameo appearance as himself in "The Terminator Decoupling", episode 17 of the second season of ''The Big Bang Theory''. He contacted the show as a fan of their often physics-based plots and was incorporated into an episode featuring him lecturing at a fictional physics symposium.

On September 18, 2009, Smoot appeared as the final contestant on the last episode of the Fox television show "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?". He reached the final question, "What U.S. state is home to Acadia National Park?", to which he gave the correct answer "Maine", becoming the second person and the first man to win the one million dollar prize.

On December 10, 2009, he appeared in a BBC interview of Nobel laureates, discussing the value science has to offer society.

References

Publications

Lubin, P. M. & G. F. Smoot. "Search for Linear Polarization of the Cosmic Background Radiation", Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), United States Department of Energy, (Oct. 1978).

Gorenstein, M. V.& G. F. Smoot. "Large-Angular-Scale Anisotropy in the Cosmic Background Radiation", Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), United States Department of Energy, (May 1980).

Smoot, G. F., De Amici, G., Friedman, S. D., Witebsky, C., Mandolesi, N., Partridge, R. B., Sironi, G., Danese, L. & G. De Zotti. "Low Frequency Measurement of the Spectrum of the Cosmic Background Radiation", Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), United States Department of Energy, (June 1983).

Smoot, G. F., De Amici, G., Levin, S. & C. Witebsky. "New Measurements of the Cosmic Background Radiation Spectrum", Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), United States Department of Energy, (Dec. 1984).

Smoot, G., Levin, S. M., Witebsky, C., De Amici, G., Y. Rephaeli. "An Analysis of Recent Measurements of the Temperature of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation", Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), United States Department of Energy, (July 1987).

Ade, P., Balbi, A., Bock, J., Borrill, J., Boscaleri, A., de Bernardis, P., Ferreira, P. G., Hanany, S., Hristov, V. V., Jaffe, A. H., Lange, A. E., Lee, A. T., Mauskopf, P. D., Netterfield, C. B., Oh, S., Pascale, E., Rabii, B., Richards, P. L., Smoot, G. F., Stompor, R., Winant, C. D. & J. H. P. Wu. "MAXIMA-1: A Measurement of the Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropy on Angular Scales of 10' to 5 degrees", Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), United States Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Science Foundation (NSF), KDI Precision Products, Inc., Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council UK, (June 4, 2005).

External links

George Smoot official website at UC Berkeley

Biography and Bibliographic Resources, from the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, United States Department of Energy

George Smoot biography at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

George Smoot curriculum vitae at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Smoot Group Cosmology official website at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

''Low gravity phase separator'' U.S. Patent 4027494 at the United States Patent Office

Nobel Prize announcement at the Nobel Foundation

Contemplating the birth of the universe

George Smoot on the design of the universe

George Smoot at the Internet Movie Database

Category:1945 births Category:American astronomers Category:American Nobel laureates Category:American physicists Category:Cosmologists Category:Living people Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Category:Nobel laureates in Physics Category:University of California, Berkeley faculty

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