10 Questions with David Saltzberg

10 questions with David Saltzberg

"If you watch the popular CBS sitcom 'The Big Bang Theory' about a group of brilliant but socially inept science postdocs, you're familiar with the work of UCLA Physics Professor David Saltzberg.

Professor David Saltzberg, left, with 'Big Bang' creator/executive producer/writer Bill Prady right after a taping. - Courtesy of CBS. As science consultant for the show, Saltzberg is one of the rare experimental particle physicists whose work gets attention from 12 million people a week. It's a decidedly different experience compared to his usual pursuits: smashing atoms with the world's biggest particle accelerators and traveling to Antarctica for astronomy experiments related to subatomic particles such as neutrinos.  

But since 2006, when a 'friend of a friend of a friend' got him involved with the show, Saltzberg has taken on such tasks as dropping scientific details into scripts and introducing actors to real UCLA physicists. In an interview with UCLA Today's Alison Hewitt, he talks about his sideline job."