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. And HOORAY for the 7th season :)
~Harry
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. And HOORAY for the 7th season :)
~Harry
Last update: September 27th, 2013

002. Ascaris Bivalent Mitosis:
According to these two images it's bivalent mitosis of ascaris, magnified 200x.

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.

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.

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. Face carving:
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.Check out Michael Janssen's excellent post on his page, even though he can't come to a solid conclusion, either.

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.

023. Durga or Mahakali? Or Shiva?:
New findings say it might be dancing Shiva (see this image); without final confirmation, though.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. Dragon mosaic at Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep:
For some reason only close-ups of this mosaic can be found . But considering blogs and photoalbums (e.g. this one) it is most likely located at the Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep temple in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand.In case anyone has a larger scene of the location, please share.

025. Departure of Prince Siddhartha:
It is an illustration from "Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists" by Sister Nivedita and Ananda Coomaraswamy, probably originally painted by Abanindranath Tagore. I'm not quite sure who did what; information from bridgeman ArtAlso used in one copy of Hermann Hesse's Siddharta (page bottom right, cover) So I guess we can confirm, that it is not Saraswati.

026. Moses:
Yes, it's Moses!Throughout the history of the website this snapshot has been one of the most frequently discussed ones - whether it's Zeus (Jupiter) or Moses. Also we can find various sources in the web stating all of them.
Finally. Kathrin found prove that it's Moses, a statue in the village of Santa Maria del Monte. The statue was built in 1831 (according to this website) at the Sacro Monte of Varese with the Via del Rosario; another picture can be found here.

029. La Délivrance des emmurés de Carcassonne:
Flipped excerpt from the 1879 painting by Jean-Paul Laurens.Can be found here and here (bottom).

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?)

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.

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:
See here for a wider shot.The glasses probably belonged to Benjamin Franklin (according to Tiago's speculation), as he was the only one amongst the men who signed the Declaration who was frequently seen wearing glasses; also he invented bi-focal glasses.

051. Ironclad gunboat "USS Baron DeKalb":
These two pages tell us that this ironclad river gunboat named USS Saint Louis was renamed USS Baron de Kalb in 1862.
Can we find out more about the picture itself?
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."

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 Annunciation (left) & Cathedral of the Archangel (right):
These two Russian Orthodox churches are located in Cathedral Square of the Moscow Kremlin.The original picture can be found here.

060. Women promoting prohibition during a parade:
Not the exact same shot, but I think it's the same waggon: according to this source (and this one) the women were promoting prohibition during a parade in Hawkinsville, Pulaski County, Georgia in 1915.Taken from this picture.

068. People made homeless by German bombing during World War II:
Even though these people are smiling, sources indicate that they had been victims of German bombing raids in Great Britain.It is not entirely clear, where the picture was taken: this website claims it was in Liverpool in 1941, the BBC says it was in Belfast. Also used on this website dealing with Carrie's War by Nina Bawden.
As already previously revealed, it is not Ellis Island.

069. ???:
Maybe see a large image here.
According to Susan, these are not Amish ("the Amish have very distinctive hair styles, clothing and beard customs and their buggys, even the earlier ones were not like that."), but then what are they?

071. Flappers:
Laurie suggested it might rather be Flappers than Suffraguettes: "It is possible that the picture could be of Suffrogettes rather than Flappers, since the 19th Amendment was not ratified until 1920, but as the women appear to be smoking and some of them are dressed like men, I'm leaning towards Flappers."This picture (and here, sold here) also supports that statement as it labels the women as Flappers. So I guess they are flappers!.

072. Theodore Roosevelt:
Now we know it's Teddy Roosevelt from this picture.
Also used on the cover of this book.(It is not Antonio Cánovas del Castillo).

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 :)

075. Red Cross Volunteer:
As antonius pointed out, this is a volunteer Red Cross, but he couldn't find out which one. Can anyone?We now also have a larger image showing us the total of the red cross sign.

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."
Chris says the picture was taken a few months later:
"Those that say the formation of fighters are British Hurricanes are corrects however the picture was taken at the end of the Battle of Britain over the skies of Yorkshire in September/October 1940. They belong to 85 squadron who moved north in September 1940 and prior to switching to night fighter operations the squadron was reequipped with new fighters and pilots and practised formation flying even though such tight vic formation had been abandoned as a fighting tactic by the RAF during BoB."

080. Suburbanization / Residential Lawn Maintanance?:
"Residential Lawn Maintanance" in Plant City, Florida has this picture in the gallery.I have tried to check out the complete area of Plant City via GoogleEarth but I couldn't find that street. Can anyone else?

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.

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.

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 and this is probably the same one.

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...)

097. AIWA XP-560 CD-Player:
Model will need confirmation with larger screenshot (currently not available because on my home comp...)

101. Very Large Array:
Can anyone find out where this VLA is located? Isabelle and others think it's at Socorro, New Mexico - but how can we know for sure?E.g. on a book cover.

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.
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 September 27th, 2013:
Completely solved 72 and 75. Additional discussion to 23.
Update June 27th, 2013:
Solved 29 and 68. Link to original image for 59, additional link for 92.
Update June 12th, 2013:
Additional information about the dates of 77.
Update December 5th, 2012:
80 could be Plant City, FL. 13 new image link.
Update August 30th, 2012:
71 are Flappers. Finally: 26 is Moses!
Update July 20th, 2012:
Dragon mosaic 24 most likely located at Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep in Thailand.
Update July 17th, 2012:
Nice addition to 60, women promoting prohibition during a parade.
Update June 15th, 2012:
Solved 25 as "Departure of Prince Siddhartha" (not Saraswati), 71 might be Flappers (instead of Suffragettes).
Update May 8th, 2012:
Confirmed 51 as USS Baron DeKalb (formerly Saint Louis) with links. 68 not Ellis Island. Additional notes to 45 (Benjamin Franklin) and 17 (Face carving).
Update Apr 27th, 2012:
Sort of solved 99, the breakdancers; link to Fotosearch.
Update Apr 10th, 2012:
All single snapshots have now an anchor and can be permalinked directly, e.g. 058. J. Edward Simmons.This can be useful if you want to link to one specific shot.
Update Mar 26th, 2012:
Additional notes to 69 (not Amish).
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, Susan Wert, David Portnoy, Isabelle, Tiago Coelho,
Laurie & Thomas Precht, Anke van Laecke, Kathrin Passig, Szabó Zsolt Mihály,
Isabelle, Tice, Chris, ShangKai Li
All screenshots and images of The Big Bang Theory show are copyright by
the producing company Warner Bros. and/or the broadcasting channel CBS.
This private website is just a fan project and not affiliated with Warner Bros.
or CBS, it is without commercial interest or any other purpose to make profit.
Linking to this website is welcome :)
Harald Kraft The Big Bang Theory - Intro (frame by frame)
the producing company Warner Bros. and/or the broadcasting channel CBS.
This private website is just a fan project and not affiliated with Warner Bros.
or CBS, it is without commercial interest or any other purpose to make profit.
Linking to this website is welcome :)
Harald Kraft The Big Bang Theory - Intro (frame by frame)