Portrait of Howard Wolowitz in a red shirt smiling slightly, the base image for the Pickup Line Scientist meme

Pickup Line Scientist

2011image macroclassic

Published September 22, 2026

Pickup Line Scientist is an advice animal image macro pairing Simon Helberg's Howard Wolowitz from The Big Bang Theory with pickup lines that squeeze sexual innuendo out of hard-science jargon. Launched on Reddit in July 2011, the format built up thousands of user submissions across Quickmeme, 9gag and Tumblr through the early 2010s.

advice animals image macro memes double entendre memes pun memes early 2010s memes

Overview

The Pickup Line Scientist image macro uses a photo of Howard Wolowitz played by Simon Helberg1, with white block text on top and bottom in the standard advice animal layout. Where a normal pickup line goes for charm, this format writes lines like 'My wavelength might be short but the frequency is outta this world,' turning physics, chemistry and biology vocabulary into double entendres2.

The tone sits somewhere between nerd humor and locker room, closer to Chemistry Cat but skewed heavier on sex jokes. Common templates lean on wave mechanics, chemical reactions, material hardness testing and biological processes, with the punchline usually landing in the bottom caption2. The Wolowitz photo, showing a slight smirk, works because the character himself is written as an awkward would-be ladies' man on The Big Bang Theory1.

Origin & Background

Platform
Reddit / Tumblr (viral spread)
Creator
imonfirex727
Date
2011

Redditor imonfirex727 posted the first Pickup Line Scientist image macro to /r/AdviceAnimals on July 26, 20112. That original submission pulled in more than 500 upvotes and 25 comments before the thread was archived2. The format joined a wave of subject-specific pickup line macros running on Reddit at the time, alongside Chemistry Cat, Dat Ash and Priority Peter, and quickly picked up its own name from the science angle2.

How It Spread

The macro sat quiet through most of August 2011 until 9gag user amberislove posted a compilation of standout examples on August 28, 2011, pulling in over 3,350 Facebook shares and 2,950 upvotes over the next year2. Traffic on r/AdviceAnimals picked back up that December when Redditor firelizard72 posted two macros in two days, one about wavelength and frequency on December 9 and another using Rockwell hardness testing on December 10, together clearing more than 2,700 upvotes2.

The 'Pickup Line Scientist' Tumblr blog went up on December 17, 2011 and collected 12 macros in its first month2. By January 2012, the Quickmeme page had over 4,600 user submissions2. FunnyJunk carried the format later, with user heavenz's homework-themed macro from September 13, 2012 hitting more than 26,000 views and nearly 600 upvotes within four months2.

Timeline

2011-07-26

Redditor imonfirex727 posts the first Pickup Line Scientist image macro to /r/AdviceAnimals.

2011-08-28

9gag user amberislove posts a compilation of standout examples, later racking up 3,350+ Facebook shares.

2011-12-09

Redditor firelizard72 posts the 'wavelength / frequency' macro, clearing 1,000+ upvotes.

2011-12-10

Firelizard72 follows up with a Rockwell hardness test macro, reaching 1,760+ upvotes.

2011-12-17

The Pickup Line Scientist Tumblr blog is created and highlights 12 macros in its first month.

2012-01

The Quickmeme page for Pickup Line Scientist crosses 4,600 user submissions.

2012-09-13

FunnyJunk user heavenz posts the 'homework' macro, later hitting 26,000+ views.

How to Use This Meme

To make a Pickup Line Scientist macro, take the Howard Wolowitz stock photo and add a top line setting up a scientific concept, then a bottom line that flips it into a sexual innuendo. Templates typically draw from physics, chemistry, biology or materials science, with the joke landing on the second line as the innuendo pays off2.

Frequently Asked Questions