Leonard Leakey Hofstadter, Ph.D. is a good-natured, earnest, and kind experimental physicist at the California Institute of Technology. He has been roommates with Dr. Sheldon Cooper for several years when the series begins. Their living arrangement is dictated by a highly technical and intricate Roommate Agreement mostly written by Sheldon, which requires things such as Leonard washing his feet before getting in the shower and other extreme rules based on hygiene or not disrupting Sheldon's routine.Leonard is used to making excuses for Sheldon's abrupt, often rude behavior, which he has some to accept, even when it includes dismissing Leonard's work as derivative.Leonard becomes smitten with their next door neighbor Penny on the day she moves in across the hall from them, even though she is cute, blonde and totally out of his league.Leonard is also good friends with his fellow scientists Howard Wolowitz and Raj Koothrappali, who are all socially inept in some way. Leonard is the least nerdy of the group and Sheldon once refers to him as the foursome's Kirk. Leonard is aware of and embraces his nerddom.Background: Was born May 1980 in New Jersey and attended Princeton University, receiving his doctorate at age 24. He won the Dissertation of the Year award. He as a brother a younger brother, Michael, who is a Harvard law professor, and an older sister who is a medical researcher working to cure diabetes.His father was an anthropologist who spent more time studying an Etruscan boy than he did with his own son. He did not celebrate Christmas or his birthday as a child because his parents wanted to study the holidays for their anthropological and sociological implications on society. His mother, Dr. Beverly Hofstadter, is like a female version of Sheldon, especially where it comes to lack of warmth and encouragement. He has an Uncle Floyd and Aunt Edna.Professionally, he has won the Newcomb Medal and conducted classified government research on rocket fuel and often has use of high-powered lasers.He enjoys comic books and playing Klingon Boggle and like any good nerd is a big fan of all science fiction, particularly Stars Trek and Wars. He favors wry T-shirts with nerd references or chemical equations on them.He is lactose intolerant, asthmatic, suffers from sleep apnea and was a bed wetter as a child, making his middle name even more unfortunate (although he was named after British archeologist Louis Leakey.).He has an IQ of 173. Show less «