Leslie Winkle

Leslie Winkle
Background information
Television programs	The Big Bang Theory
Portrayed by	Sara Gilbert
Character information
Full name	Dr. Leslie Winkle
Other names	Leslie Dr. Winkle
Personality	Smart, geeky, arrogant, condescending, manipulative,
Appearance	Slender, brown curly hair, fair skin, brown eyes, black framed glasses, zippered hoodie jacket, shirt, pants and shoes in various colors,
Occupation	Physicist
Goal	To attempt to mock Sheldon and all cost (most of the time)
Allies	(her ex-boyfriend) Leonard Hofstadter, Penny Howard Wolowitz, Rajesh Koothrappali,
Enemies	Sheldon Cooper (most at the time),
Likes	Physics, mocking Sheldon,
Dislikes	Sheldon's behavior and insults towards her
Fate	Slams the door on Leonard who asks her to have sex and she is never seen or heard from again after that. She appears as a guest at Sheldon's birthday.

Dr. Leslie Winkle, Ph.D., is an experimental physicist at the California Institute of Technology who works in the same laboratory as Leonard Hofstadter. She is essentially his female counterpart, equipped with the same black framed glasses and zippered hoodies. Whenever depicted in the lab, she is always using the equipment inappropriately to prepare food, such as flash-freezing a banana with liquid nitrogen and then shattering it with a hammer to put in her cereal, or using a helium-neon laser to heat a cup of instant soup. She dates Leonard on-and-off, and later Howard Wolowitz. Because of her shallow and manipulative nature, she is arguably the central antagonist of the second season- although the only true hostility she ever displays is towards Sheldon Cooper. Leslie made her 2nd last appearance in "The Lunar Excitation" when she rejected Leonard's offer for casual sex and left the series after that, save for 1 appearance in season 9.

Personality

Leslie severely dislikes Sheldon as evidenced in most episodes. Leslie takes her job seriously (when she isn't using the equipment for food preparation) and is very intelligent; she figured out a problem Sheldon had been working on without difficulty, much to his irritation. She cares so much about science that it affects her love life, Her partner has to have the same scientific beliefs as her in order for them to stay together.

She is displayed as arrogant, condescending, and manipulative. When she and Howard started a "friends with benefits" relationship, she would only give him favors so long as he did as she wanted, admitting she could only be happy if she were the one in control. It is implied by dialogue (and said outright by Sheldon) that Leslie is promiscuous, as she suggested she tended to have orgies and mainly craved sex instead of a relationship. She wears the same type of glasses and clothing as Leonard does.

Appearance

Leslie Winkle is an slender woman with fair skin, brown curly hair and eyes. She wore black framed glasses and a zipper hoodie jacket, pants and shoes in various colors (depending on which episode).

Season 1

Leslie makes her debut in "The Fuzzy Boots Corollary." Leonard, feeling his pursuit of his neighbor Penny is pointless, asked her out on a date because he thought she was in his league. She kisses him to see whether they have any chemistry, and although complimenting his technique, turns the offer down when she feels no arousal. This incident, and his hopeless infatuation with Penny, causes Leonard to go into a state of depression. In her next appearance in "The Hamburger Postulate", she goes to Leonard's apartment to practice with her string quartet. She offers herself to Leonard to have intercourse, despite her previous rejection. She also inadvertently starts her rivalry with Sheldon when she solves a problem he was having and insults his intelligence. Assuming he and Leslie are now dating, Leonard goes to her only to find she just used him to satisfy her libido, which is apparently now covered until New Year's Eve.

When the guys compete in a physics bowl and kick Sheldon off the team for his showboating behavior, Howard and Raj want Leslie to join. Leonard is understandably uneasy since she had used him, but agrees. Leslie at first rejects, but reconsiders when she discovers Sheldon has formed an opposing team since he is so condescending to her. When Sheldon realizes she is on their team, his confidence is visibly shaken. They win the bowl when Sheldon does not allow one of his partners to answer a question, which turned out to be right.

Season 2

After Leonard and Penny decide not to pursue a relationship, Leslie approaches Leonard for a true relationship, despite her previous unwillingness. She allows him to have the "male role," despite continuing to dominate and manage their relationship, and goes a bit far when she questions Leonard on any faults and genetic defects he has, and talks about having children on the first date. Sheldon is perturbed by Leonard's attachment to Leslie and ponders why, of all the overrated physicists in all the labs in all the world, it had to be Leslie Winkle, paraphrasing Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca. Following several interruptions by Sheldon during a date she had with Leonard, she interprets the situation as passive-aggressive. Later, in an attempt to be gracious and support his friendship with Leonard as Penny advised, he seems accepting of Leslie's romantic involvement with him. Sheldon claims to be willing to overlook her faults, but starts an argument that effectively nullifies her romance with Leonard by stating that she is an arrogant sub-par scientist, who prefers loop quantum gravity to string theory. She expects Leonard to back her up, but when he sides with string theoretic validation, she dumps him, feeling they are not compatible. ("How will we raise the children?")

In the next episode she suggests Penny's recent addiction to an online game is due to a lack of a sex life. Sheldon agrees, as Penny had already admitted to having not had intimacy for a while, making it a rare occasion that he agrees with Leslie on anything. When Sheldon signs up to use the mainframe in Buckman 204 at Caltech, Dr. Winkle rips the sign-up sheet off the wall as he printed it himself and put his name down in every slot for the next six months. Sheldon maintains that he was only trying to ensure university resources are not being "squandered chasing subatomic wild geese." This particular dispute could only be resolved by meeting with the chairman of the Physics Department, Dr. Gablehauser. In "The Cooper-Nowitzki Theorem," she makes fun of Sheldon after he gives an insulting lecture, but is derailed and disgusted when a graduate student named Ramona Nowitzki shows admiration for Sheldon. She even insults Leslie for Sheldon at one point (Sheldon is horrible at making snarky comebacks). Annoyed, she leaves.

"The Cushion Saturation" sees Leslie beginning a "friends-with-benefits" relationship with Howard when they are trapped in a shack during a paintball game. She gives him funds for his work and invites him on a trip to the CERN Large Hadron Collider project in Geneva. It turns out to be just Leslie's way to control Howard. Although initially reluctant to be in this sort of relationship, Howard later happily accepts his role as a "sex toy/arm candy." While Leslie does not physically appear in "The Vegas Renormalization," she plays a major part in the story line when she calls off her "friends with benefits" relationship with Howard. Having developed genuine feelings for her, he becomes depressed and goes to Las Vegas with Leonard and Raj, where he sleeps with a prostitute to get over her.

Season 3

Leslie is completely absent throughout season 3, only appearing in the final episode, "The Lunar Excitation." Leonard shows up at her door and suggests they sleep together again after Penny had slept with him after they had broken up. She responds "Let me think about it," before slamming the door in his face. He realizes she is not coming back and she never does.

External links

• Leslie Winkle on The Big Bang Theory Wiki

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Media The Big Bang Theory • Young Sheldon • Video Characters Main Characters: Leonard Hofstadter • Sheldon Cooper • Penny Hofstadter • Howard Wolowitz • Rajesh Koothrappali • Amy Farrah Fowler • Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz • Stuart Bloom • Emily Sweeney • Leslie Winkle Recurring Characters: Barry Kripke • Wil Wheaton • Althea • Kurt • Eric Gablehauser • Mary Cooper • Debbie Wolowitz • V.M. Koothrappali • Mrs. Koothrappali • Mike • Stephanie Barnett • Beverley Hofstadter • President Siebert • Zack Johnson • Priya Koothrappali • Wyatt • Mike Rostenkowski • Mrs. Rostenkowski • Alex Jensen • Janine Davis • Lucy • Professor Proton • David Gibbs • Claire • Stephen Hawking • Alfred Hofstadter • Colonel Richard Williams • Denise Minor Characters: Christy Vanderbel • Lalita Gupta • Toby Loobenfeld • Dennis Kim • Dimitri • Missy Cooper • Blain • Tom • Octavia • Maria • Lourdes • Ramona Nowitzki • Kathy O'Brian • David Underhill • Alicia • Mikayla • Captain Sweatpants • Lonely Larry • Dr. Crawley • Bethany • Sarah • Skeeter • Professor Laughlin • Abby • Martha • Officer Hackett • Sandy • Glen • Venkatesh Koothrappali • Sebastian • Louie/Louise • Joyce Kim • Mrs. Gunderson • Joy • Mrs. Fowler • Angela Page • Professor Glenn • Mrs. Latham • Todd Zarnecki • Susan • Randall • Colonel Richard Williams Episodes Season 1: Pilot • The Big Bran Hypothesis • The Fuzzy Boots Corollary • The Luminous Fish Effect • The Hamburger Postulate • The Middle-Earth Paradigm • The Dumpling Paradox • The Grasshopper Experiment • The Cooper-Hofstadter Polarization • The Loobenfeld Decay • The Pancake Batter Anomaly • The Jerusalem Duality • The Bat Jar Conjecture • The Nerdvana Annihilation • The Porkchop Indeterminacy • The Peanut Reaction • The Tangerine Factor Season 2: The Bad Fish Paradigm • The Codpiece Topology • The Barbarian Sublimation • The Griffin Equivalency • The Euclid Alternative • The Cooper-Nowitzki Theorem • The Panty Piñata Polarization • The Lizard-Spock Expansion • The White Asparagus Triangulation • The Vartabedian Conundrum • The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis • The Killer Robot Instability • The Friendship Algorithm • The Financial Permeability • The Maternal Capacitance • The Cushion Saturation • The Terminator Decoupling • The Work Song Nanocluster • The Dead Hooker Juxtaposition • The Hofstadter Isotope • The Vegas Renormalization • The Classified Materials Turbulence • The Monopolar Expedition Season 3: The Electric Can Opener Fluctuation • The Jiminy Conjecture • The Gothowitz Deviation • The Pirate Solution • The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary • The Cornhusker Vortex • The Guitarist Amplification • The Adhesive Duck Deficiency • The Vengeance Formulation • The Gorilla Experiment • The Maternal Congruence • The Psychic Vortex • The Bozeman Reaction • The Einstein Approximation • The Large Hadron Collision • The Excelsior Acquisition • The Precious Fragmentation • The Pants Alternative • The Wheaton Recurrence • The Spaghetti Catalyst • The Plimpton Stimulation • The Staircase Implementation • The Lunar Excitation Season 4: The Robotic Manipulation • The Cruciferous Vegetable Amplification • The Zazzy Substitution • The Hot Troll Deviation • The Desperation Emanation • The Irish Pub Formulation • The Apology Insufficiency • The 21-Second Excitation • The Boyfriend Complexity • The Alien Parasite Hypothesis • The Justice League Recombination • The Bus Pants Utilization • The Love Car Displacement • The Thespian Catalyst • The Benefactor Factor • The Cohabitation Formulation • The Toast Derivation • The Prestidigitation Approximation • The Zarnecki Incursion • The Herb Garden Germination • The Agreement Dissection • The Wildebeest Implementation • The Engagement Reaction • The Roommate Transmogrification Season 5: The Skank Reflex Analysis • The Infestation Hypothesis • The Pulled Groin Extrapolation • The Wiggly Finger Catalyst • The Russian Rocket Reaction • The Rhinitis Revelation • The Good Guy Fluctuation • The Isolation Permutation • The Ornithophobia Diffusion • The Flaming Spittoon Acquisition • The Speckerman Recurrence • The Shiny Trinket Maneuver • The Recombination Hypothesis • The Beta Test Initiation • The Friendship Contraction • The Vacation Solution • The Rothman Disintegration • The Werewolf Transformation • The Weekend Vortex • The Transporter Malfunction • The Hawking Excitation • The Stag Convergence • The Launch Acceleration • The Countdown Reflection Season 6: The Date Night Variable • The Decoupling Fluctuation • The Higgs Boson Observation • The Re-Entry Minimization • The Holographic Excitation • The Extract Obliteration • The Habitation Configuration • The 43 Peculiarity • The Parking Lot Escalation • The Fish Guts Displacement • The Santa Simulation • The Egg Salad Equivalency • The Bakersfield Expedition • The Cooper/Kripke Inversion • The Spoiler Alert Segmentation • The Tangible Affection Proof • The Monster Isolation • The Contractual Obligation Implementation • The Closet Reconfiguration • The Tenure Turbulence • The Closure Alternative • The Proton Resurgence • The Love Spell Potential • The Bon Voyage Reaction Season 7: The Hofstadter Insufficiency • The Deception Verification • The Scavenger Vortex • The Raiders Minimization • The Workplace Proximity • The Romance Resonance • The Proton Displacement • The Itchy Brain Simulation • The Thanksgiving Decoupling • The Discovery Dissipation • The Cooper Extraction • The Hesitation Ramification • The Occupation Recalibration • The Convention Conundrum • The Locomotive Manipulation • The Table Polarization • The Friendship Turbulence • The Mommy Observation • The Indecision Amalgamation • The Relationship Diremption • The Anything Can Happen Recurrence • The Proton Transmogrification • The Gorilla Dissolution • The Status Quo Combustion Season 8: The Locomotion Interruption • The Junior Professor Solution • The First Pitch Insufficiency • The Hook-up Reverberation • The Focus Attenuation • The Expedition Approximation • The Misinterpretation Agitation • The Prom Equivalency • The Septum Deviation • The Champagne Reflection • The Clean Room Infiltration • The Space Probe Disintegration • The Anxiety Optimization • The Troll Manifestation • The Comic Book Store Regeneration • The Intimacy Acceleration • The Colonization Application • The Leftover Thermalization • The Skywalker Incursion • The Fortification Implementation • The Communication Deterioration • The Graduation Transmission • The Maternal Combustion • The Commitment Determination Season 9: The Matrimonial Momentum • The Separation Oscillation • The Bachelor Party Corrosion • The 2003 Approximation • The Perspiration Implementation • The Helium Insufficiency • The Spock Resonance • The Mystery Date Observation • The Platonic Permutation • The Earworm Reverberation • The Opening Night Excitation • The Sales Call Sublimation • The Empathy Optimization • The Meemaw Materialization • The Valentino Submergence • The Positive Negative Reaction • The Celebration Experimentation • The Application Deterioration • The Solder Excursion Diversion • The Big Bear Precipitation • The Viewing Party Combustion • The Fermentation Bifurcation • The Line Substitution Solution • The Convergence-Convergence Season 10: The Conjugal Conjecture • The Military Miniaturization • The Dependence Transcendence • The Cohabitation Experimentation • The Hot Tub Contamination • The Fetal Kick Catalyst • The Veracity Elasticity • The Brain Bowl Incubation • The Geology Elevation • The Property Division Collision • The Birthday Synchronicity • The Holiday Summation • The Romance Recalibration • The Emotion Detection Automation • The Locomotion Reverberation • The Allowance Evaporation • The Comic-Con Conundrum • The Escape Hatch Identification • The Collaboration Fluctuation • The Recollection Dissipation • The Separation Agitation • The Cognition Regeneration • The Gyroscopic Collapse • The Long Distance Dissonance Season 11: The Proposal Proposal • The Retraction Reaction • The Relaxation Integration • The Explosion Implosion • The Collaboration Contamination • The Proton Regeneration • The Geology Methodology • The Tesla Recoil • The Bitcoin Entanglement • The Confidence Erosion • The Celebration Reverberation • The Matrimonial Metric • The Solo Oscillation • The Separation Triangulation • The Novelization Correlation • The Neonatal Nomenclature • The Athenaeum Allocation • The Gates Excitation • The Tenant Disassociation • The Reclusive Potential • The Comet Polarization • The Monetary Insufficiency • The Sibling Realignment • The Bow Tie Asymmetry Season 12: The Conjugal Configuration • The Wedding Gift Wormhole • The Procreation Calculation • The Tam Turbulence • The Planetarium Collision • The Imitation Perturbation • The Grant Allocation Derivation • The Consummation Deviation • The Citation Negation • The VCR Illumination • The Paintball Scattering • The Propagation Proposition • The Confirmation Polarization • The Meteorite Manifestation • The Donation Oscillation • The D & D Vortex • The Conference Valuation • The Laureate Accumulation • The Inspiration Deprivation • The Decision Reverberation • The Plagiarism Schism • The Maternal Conclusion • The Change Constant • The Stockholm Syndrome Locations The Apartment Building • Apartment 4A • Apartment 4B • The Elevator • California Institute of Technology • Wolowitz House • The Comic Center of Pasadena • Pasadena • The Cheesecake Factory • Raj's Apartment • Amy's Apartment • Howard and Bernadette's Apartment • The Stairs • Sheldon's Old Office • Raj's Old Office • Sheldon's New Office • Howard's Lab • The University Cafeteria • Kripke's Plasma Lab • International Space Station • The Kinetics Lab Songs Transportations See Also Unaired Pilot