Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
Sheldon and Amy begin the season on their honeymoon, then return to Caltech and continue developing super-asymmetry, the idea they formed just before their wedding. When physicists Pemberton and Campbell independently produce results confirming the theory, the couple are excited until the men try to claim part of the discovery and exclude Amy from Nobel consideration. Sheldon insists that Amy’s contribution be recognized. Raj, tired of being single, asks his father to arrange a match and becomes engaged to Anu, but the relationship does not become the lasting partnership he hoped for.
Leonard and Penny confront a disagreement about having children. Penny says she does not want to become a parent, and Leonard eventually tells her he can accept that choice. When Penny’s former boyfriend Zack asks Leonard to father a child with his wife, Penny claims to support the idea but has reservations; Leonard withdraws after realizing he could not raise that child. Howard and Bernadette juggle work with life as parents of Halley and Neil, while Raj eventually decides against moving to London to marry Anu. The group faces different questions about commitment and family.
The season’s final episodes bring Sheldon and Amy’s Nobel bid to its outcome: they win the Physics prize for their super-asymmetry work. The attention unsettles Sheldon, while Amy’s makeover is another change he struggles to accept; meanwhile, the apartment building’s elevator finally works. Two months later, the friends travel to Stockholm for the ceremony. Penny and Leonard are secretly expecting a baby, and her nausea on the flight forces them to tell Sheldon. Sheldon is initially distracted by the news and hurts Leonard, but Amy challenges him. At the ceremony he abandons his prepared speech, thanks his friends and apologizes for taking them for granted.