The Big Bang Theory - Intro (frame by frame)

So, this page was released in September 2009, right before the third season of TBBT was being aired. It was started as a fan project - and still is - providing a list of naming the images shown in the intro of the TV series TBBT while the Barenaked Ladies sing "History Of Everything".
A lot of people have helped to make the list almost complete. See all the thank you notes (as well as the previous update messages) at the bottom of the page.
My comment page on my blog is still valid, so if you'd like to contribute, please drop me an email or go to the blog page. Also, refer to bottom of the website for the changelog.
Enjoy and help me finish this list - also hooray for the 4th season :)!

~Harry
Last update: Oct 6th, 2011
001. Mitosis:
 
002. Ascaris Bivalent Mitosis:
According to these two images it's bivalent mitosis of ascaris, magnified 200x.
 
003. Radiolaria:
This image tells us that they are radiolaria.
 
004. Kilauea volcano:
According to the use of the picture on this website, it is Kilauea volcano on Hawaii. Picture taken from the cover of this book.
 
005. Prehistoric fern:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/g7MRTjPwSnON2QSvD3hARA
 
006. Amphibians:
 
007. Leguanas / Reptiles:
Looks like Marine Iguanas found on the Galapagos Islands.
 
008. Vegetarian Dinosaurs:
 
009. Dinosaurs:
 
010. Mammoth:
 
011. Chimps:
 
012. Evolution of Man?:
 
013. The Wheel:
 
014. San Cave Drawings:
The image most likely shows cave drawings of the African San culture. The also called Bushmen or Basarwa documented their lives via rock drawings in the area of the Drakensberg Moutains.
See here for a large picture and here for a very interesting comparison of cave drawing characteristics throughout the world.
 
015. Stonehenge:
 
016. Moais of Ahu Nau Nau, Rapa Nui:
Moais of Ahu Nau Nau, which is located at Anakena Beach, Rapa Nui.
See picture at Flickr.
 
017. xxxx:
Even though we still don't know what or where this is, some people found places where it's used: Fotosearch has it for sale, it's used as cover for an ebook Popular Tales of the West Highlands, Vol. III by J.F. Campbell and its iTunes app.
 
018. Q'allaqasa at Pisac:
The 'citadel' at the Incan ruins "Inca Pisac" in the Sacred Valey in Peru.
See here and here.
 
019. Stone statues of San Agustin, Colombia:
According to various sources, these more than 500 statues were carved between the first and 14th century. See the single statue here and here.
Thanks to Juan Fonseca for his photo of the single statue used in the frame.
 
020. El Castillo at Chichen Itza:
Mayan pyramid in the largest Mayan city.
 
021. Pyramids of Giza:
 
022. The Sphinx:
 
023. Durga or Mahakali?:
I guess it's not easy to determine which aspect (or the sort) of Kali the image represents. Can anyone find out where the carving is located?
It's also on the cover of the book Cuss!: The Ancient And Transcendental Art Of Hangin' Out - does anyone own this book and can checkout the details about the cover?
 
024. xxx:
Jupiter Images has an image that's called Chiang Mai, which is just the name of a Thai city. An extensive search around that image and its name did give me any clues. Any help?
 
025. Saraswati?:
Can anyone find the original picture?
It is used in one copy of Hermann Hesse's Siddharta (page bottom right, cover)
 
026. Zeus?:
According to the name of this picture it's Zeus, but others still say it's Moses...
Also, the label of this image says it's a statue of Zeus in Greece.
Doesn't anyone have pictures from their last vacation in Greece ;)?
 
027. Parthenon on the Acropolis:
 
028. Jesus Christ:
 
029. Spanish Inquisition:
Does anybody find the original image?
Found on the cover of the book The Varieties of Religious Experience - A Study in Human Nature
 
030. The Great Wall of China:
 
031. Notre Dame de Paris:
 
032. Taj Mahal:
 
033. Leaning Tower of Pisa:
 
034. Michelangelo's David:
This is the original statue, located inside.
 
035. Vitruvian Man:
 
036. Massachusetts Bay:
Ancient drawing, see here.
 
037. Viking Dragons:
A painting of by Albert Sebille portraying Viking longships, see here.
 
038. Vasco Núñez de Balboa:
See this image which tells us that it's the Spaniard Vasco Núñez de Balboa (and not Francisco Pizarro). This image could be portraying when he reached the Pacific Ocean. As suggested, the top icon on the banner is Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus, the bottom icon an emblem of the Spanish King, see here.
 
039. Christopher Columbus ("formerly" Hernan Cortes):
Being used in this video on Amazon, it states it IS Columbus.
(Old remarks:
This suggested it is Cortes, this doesn't say who it is.
But 1, 2 and 3 say it is Columbus by Theodor de Bry. And Antonio Herrera?)
 
040. Jean of Arc:
Painted by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres in 1854, see the original.
 
041. Napeoleon Bonaparte during the French Revolution:
We finally have proof that it's Napoleon and that it's during the French Revolution. See this image for confirmation.
 
042. Pilgrims Going To Church:
"Pilgrims-Going-To-Church" by George Henry Boughton in 1867, see it here.
 
043. Boston Tea Party:
Boston Tea Party 1773 by W.h. Overend, see it here.
 
044. Eye of Providence:
The Eye of Providence, also a Masonic symbol, on the United States one-dollar bill.
 
045. United States Declaration of Independence:
Whose glasses are those?
See here for a wider shot.
 
046. Abraham Lincoln:
On the 5 US dollar bill.
 
047. George Washington:
 
048. Constitution of the United States of America:
 
049. Ulysses Simpson Grant:
 
050. Ulysses S. Grant:
Taken from this picture.
 
051. USS Baron DeKalb:
What picture is this?
It can be found here and here, even though those websites do not give 100% confirmation on which ship it is.
 
052. Oklahoma Landrun:
 
053. Civil War amputation:
Take from this picture.
 
054. Vancouver Express:
According to this website, it's the Vancouver Express.
Backup up by this gallery telling us it dated back to 1925.
 
055. The Leader building:
The Leader building in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada housed the first newspaper in Regina (which still exists as "Regina Leader-Post" today).
According to the Libary and Archives Canada the picture was taken in 1885 by Otto B. Buell.
Corey, who did a school project 17 years ago, can share this great detailed information with us: "The formally attired man in the top hat in front of the building is Nicholas Flood Davin, the founder of the paper."
 
056. Goldrush:
Can be found at this page (top right), unscaled image.
 
057. The Telegraph:
 
058. J. Edward Simmons:
Wow, it took us a while to find this, didn't it? This is J. Edward Simmons, President of the New York Stock Exchange in 1885.
See here and even Amazon has a print!
And now the machine has been solved: it's an Edison Stock Ticker (see here)
 
059. Cathedral of the Archangel (r) & Cathedral of the Annunciation (l):
 
060. Prohibition:
Who exactly are those people?
Taken from this picture.
 
061. Second industrial revolution?:
What exactly is this about? Taken from this photo.
 
062. Edison's Lightbulb?:
 
063. Tower Bridge:
 
064. Eiffel Tower:
 
065. Statue of Liberty:
 
066. Women's Land Army:
Taken from this photograph.
 
067. Clara Barton:
Taken from this picture.
 
068. Immigration to US on Ellis Island:
Can someone confirm that this picture is from Ellis Island?
 
069. Amish?:
Maybe see a large image here.
 
070. Ford Model T:
First mass production car. Taken from this photo.
 
071. Suffragettes:
Is this picture from the Suffragette movement? Someone find pictures?
 
072. Theodore Roosevelt:
Taken from the cover of this book.
Comparing to the photo of this article, the facial features very much suggest it's Roosevelt (and not Antonio Cánovas del Castillo).
Does anybody own a copy of the mentioned book and can check out the sources of the cover shot?
 
073. Boeing P-12:
For time issues, I'll just put Doublas' comment here:
Number 73 isn't a Polikarpov (russian aircraft) but a Boeing P-12. Observe the rudder painted with the colors of the United States Army Air Corps (check other examples in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Air_Corps). Regarding denomination F4B-4, this was a Navy version of the P-12, but in this case it would have split axle landing gear (i.e. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Boeing_F4B_VF5.jpg). In short, it's a P-12 :)
 
074. Mount Rushmore National Memorial:
 
075. Red Cross Volunteer?:
As antonius pointed out, this is a volunteer Red Cross, but he couldn't find out which one. Can anyone?
 
076. Albert Einstein:
Einstein on a dollar bill, see here. But what's that all about? Having something to do with the Israeli 5 lira note? Also see here.
 
077. Hawker Hurricane Mk I:
Two people confirmed this, one commenting as follows:
"Hawker Hurricane Mk I´s flying in the early WWII 'vic-formation' (three aircraft/flight, very close formation flying). The roundels and fin flashes are clearly early war british markings. [...] that photograph was taken in the early stages of the battle of britain, summer 1940."
 
078. Mass–Energy Equivalence:
 
079. Jackson Pollock:
Can be found here.
Does it have a name?
 
080. Suburbanization?:
Where is this?
 
081. 1947 Chrysler Town and Country Convertible:
 
082. Jukebox Wurlitzer:
 
083. Untethered extra-vehicular activity:
Can anyone confirm whether this is a picture from the same EVA on Feb 11, 1984?
 
084. Space Shuttle Challenger launching for STS-41-C:
Can be found here.
This book suggests it's the Columbia, but if you look at this Wikipedia image, you can see much more black on the front part of the wings of the Columbia.
However, this picture from NASA supposedly shows the same launch (the intro's shot being inverted), stating that it is the Challenger (OV-099) taking off on April 6, 1984 for its mission STS-41-C.
 
085. The Pill:
 
086. Surgery?:
Is the snapshot specific to this?
Can also be found here in relation to Coronary Artery Bypass.
 
087. Intel Pentium processor and LSI circuits:
First generation of Intel's pentium alongside of random LSI (<- or would anyone know which ones?).

According to Peter, the left-hand device is an uncovered CCD.
 
088. IBM 3420:
Old and new model.
 
089. The 3 1/2 inch Floppy Disk:
1.44MB capacity
 
090. Empire State Building:
What is special about the picture?
It's facing North, so even if WTC was still there, it wouldn't be in the picture - so I don't see any 9/11 connection.
 
091. Toronto Subway at Union Station:
Yonge-University-Spadina line heading towards Downsview stopping at Union Station.
Andrew found this picture and this one, where and the walls, floor, ceiling and lighting match.
Also found at hotstop.
 
092. Hollywood:
Does anybody have the urge/time to check out all the lights in Hollywood and tell me which intersection this is ;)? C'mon, show some enthusiasm just like Raj and Howard searching for the house of America's Next Top Model :).
A bigger shot is here.
 
093. Martin Luther King, Jr.:
Used on this website, interestingly in b/w though. (I could write to the author of that article and ask him about the pic...)
 
094. Disco?:
 
095. Retro Rollerskates?:
 
096. Mysta Bot:
By PlayTime, see here.
 
097. AIWA XP-560 CD-Player:
Model will need confirmation with larger screenshot (currently not available because on my home comp...)
 
098. IBM PS/2 Model 50Z:
 
099. breakdance?:
 
100. 1989 Motorola Micro TAC:
 
101. Very Large Array:
Can anyone find out where this one is located? At Socorro?
E.g. on a book cover.
 
102. skateboarding?:
 
103. The Berlin Wall:
 
104. SBB-CFF-FFS RABDe 500:
See its Wikipedia page.
Taken from this photo.
Thanks Markus for taking a photo of such a train in Zurich.
 
105. snowboarding?:
 
106. Playstation:
 
107. Oil field?:
Where is this?
Can be found e.g. here.
 
108. Digital Cameras:
 
109. Millennium? July 4th?:
 
Original introduction text from page rollout in 2009:
I guess just about everybody who has seen more than one episode of The Big Bang Theory has felt the urge to watch the intro in slow motion to figure out all the details about the images that are flashing in a fraction of a second.
After the second season has been aired for a while now and I finally made room for it in my time schedule, I split up the intro frame by frame and used one snapshot per theme. Even though some of the themes are pretty obvious, others are quite tricky and I had no choice but to take a good guess or leave it blank. So if anybody disagrees with what I put as description or can fill in the blanks, just drop me a line and I will try to improve the content. You can also comment in my blog post.
At this point in time, this page is depending on community input anyway - so please share your knowledge about the screenshots and I shall publish it with a thanking note :)
As you can read in the copyright column at the end of the page, this is just a fan project without commercial affiliation.
You are very welcome to link to this website, but please do not hotlink the images! Otherwise I will have to use anti-hotlink measures :(

Update Oct 6th, 2011:
Additions to 17, 24 and 87.
Update Sep 7th, 2011:
Confirmed 77, definitely Hawker Hurricane Mk I.
Update Nov 22, 2010:
Additions to 23, 25, 29, 86. Confirmed 26, 56. Completed 44, 58.
Update Sep 30, 2010:
Revealed No. 2, 3, 37, 41, 58 thanks to Alex (who had sent me links already a while ago).
Update Sep 29, 2010:
Revealed No. 38 as Vasco Núñez de Balboa - there's still images being identified ;).
Update Sep 23, 2010:
Hooray for the upcoming 4th season, mentioning the Barenaked Ladies.
Update Aug 27, 2010:
Movement of old intro and updates to the bottom. New intro text.
Update Mar 04, 2010:
Picture name and painter of No. 42 and No. 14 being cave drawings by San people. Thanks to both Mauders.
Update Feb 01, 2010:
Photographer and date of No. 55 The Leader building.
Update Dec 10, 2009:
Request not to hotlink my images but to use a link to this page instead.
Update Nov 24, 2009:
Private photos added to Swiss train (no. 104) and San Agustin stones (no. 19). No. 84 identified as the Challenger.
Update Nov 23, 2009:
No. 38 Spanish banner analysis (needs confirmation). More details about no. 16's Moais. Confirmed no. 19 being San Agustin. Discussion about no. 23, the Hindu goddess. No 72. pretty much confirmed to be Roosevelt. Discussion about no. 84, which space shuttle. More images on the old battle ship on no. 51. No. 91 confirmed as Toronto Union Station.
Update Nov 18, 2009:
No. 55 was solved by several people, along with 4, 54 and 39 seems to be Columbus (and not Cortes).
Update Oct 30, 2009:
Finally no. 18 could be solved.
Update Oct 18, 2009:
Smaller updates on some screenshots. Still looking for confirmation on some others - we'll see how it develops :)
Update Sep 29, 2009:
In order to prevent more emails and comments about the same mistakes + information, I spent the last 2 hours in an Apple store to make this update. Many thanks to all your great contributions!!
Update Sep 29, 2009:
As I am in Toronto atm without proper internet access it would be kinda hard to make updates, but thank you for all your blog comments and emails. I will update this page within the next 2 weeks.
Update Sep 21, 2009:
Now that the third season is about to be aired (as we "speak"), I gave myself a kick in the butt and got this page ready to be released. So, enjoy!
Special thanks to:
Markus Mauder, Joakim Wassberg, Unai Garcia, Warein, Juan Ignacio, Sergio Merino, Ahmed, Luis Medel, Alejandro Guerra, Laura Mosquera, Inigo, Gorgias, Nacho, Esparta Palma, Jack Smirk, Pepe, Hannibal, Gemma Montejo, Damian Vila, JarFil, Miro Jorge, Lau, Isaac Pavon, Jordi Casaubon, Paco Sanz, Doublas, Gary Companion, Frank, Demian, K, Batfilm, Elsiko, Corey Bond, Daryl Mitchell, Don Guana, Pedro Kompen, Omarama, Juan Fonseca, Eva & Sergio, Andrew Shorten, Inigo Fernandez, Blanca Martinez, cgooner, Demoledo, Gregg & Val Roseberry, Ryan Youck, Elisabeth Mauder, Alex Cohen, Charlie Sen, Mike Anderson, Aarron Unger, Mario Ureña Cuate, Frank Gopal Cohen, Tracy Brown, Christopher Sanders, Kai Peters, Peter Maydew, Nitto, Andrés Cordón, Nicola Moretti