<P> The character of Sheldon Cooper was inspired by a computer programmer personally known to series co-creator Bill Prady . He is named in honor of actor / producer Sheldon Leonard and Nobel Prize Laureate Leon Cooper . Chuck Lorre originally intended Johnny Galecki to play the role, but Galecki thought he would be "better suited" for the character of Leonard . Lorre said that when Jim Parsons auditioned for the role, he was "so startlingly good" that he was asked to reaudition "to make sure he hadn't gotten lucky". Sheldon is one of four characters to appear in every episode of the series, along with Leonard, Howard, and Raj . </P> <P> Sheldon was raised in Galveston, Texas along with his elder brother, George Jr., and fraternal twin sister, Missy, by his mother, Mary Cooper, an overtly devout Evangelical Christian; and George Cooper, an alcoholic who was rarely around . Sheldon once got his father fired when he told Mr. Hinckley, a store owner, that George was stealing from the cash register . In Young Sheldon, this is retconned: his father is a football coach who was fired from his coaching position in Galveston because he disclosed that other coaches were illegally recruiting players to their school, forcing the family to return to Medford . He does drink, mostly beer, but is a loving father who is trying to understand his intellectually gifted son . The only member of his family to have actively encouraged his work in science was his grandfather, whom he cherished and affectionately called "Pop - Pop", and who died when Sheldon was five years old . Pop - Pop's loss is what caused Sheldon to despise Christmas when his Christmas wish to bring Pop - Pop back didn't come true . Sheldon's closest relative is his maternal grandmother whom he affectionately calls "Meemaw", and who in turn calls him "Moon Pie". His aunt also encouraged Sheldon by giving him medical equipment, "in case his work in physics failed, he'd have a' trade' to fall back on". </P> <P> Sheldon was interested in science from an early age, and was a child prodigy, although due to his behavioral quirks and his lack of humility about his superior intellect, he was bullied by classmates and neighbors . Sheldon entered college at the age of eleven, and at age fourteen he graduated from college summa cum laude . (To this day, the college he went to for undergraduate studies has yet to be revealed, but he feels it is superior to his fellow Big Bang Theory colleagues' alma maters of Princeton (Leonard), MIT (Howard) and Harvard (Amy).) From then, he worked on his doctorate, was a visiting professor at the University of Heidelberg in Germany, was the youngest person at the time to receive the Stevenson Award, and has appeared on the cover of Journal of Physical Chemistry A. Sheldon is now a theoretical physicist doing research at Caltech, although he stated in Young Sheldon that he couldn't see himself living in California due to their carefree lifestyle . </P> <P> Sheldon is often described as a stereotypical "geek". He is usually characterized as being extremely intelligent, detail - oriented, eccentric, and occasionally disturbing . Despite his intelligence, he often displays childlike qualities, such as extreme stubbornness and a lack of common sense . It is claimed by Bernadette that the reason Sheldon is sometimes unpleasant is because the part of his brain that tells him it is wrong to be nasty is "getting a wedgie from the rest of his brain", although, in season 8's "The Space Probe Disintegration", Sheldon tearfully admits to Leonard that he is aware of his peculiarities and how his behavior comes across . The first four episodes of The Big Bang Theory portray Sheldon slightly inconsistently with respect to his later characterization, in which he is depicted as rather witty and sarcastic, and slightly flirtatious towards Penny in the pilot episode: according to Prady, the character "began to evolve after episode five or so and became his own thing". </P>

What college did sheldon from big bang theory go to
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