Howard Wolowitz gets a lot of slack throughout The Big Bang Theory because, unlike his friends, he has a master's degree instead of a doctorate. However, Howard is an accomplished engineer who created an invention for the United States military, NASA, and has been to space.
Howard is the silliest of his friend group and doesn't take himself too seriously, but he's had incredibly smart quotes throughout the series. When he needs to help his friends or focus at work, Sheldon and co. shouldn't sleep on this witty engineer.
Howard In Sheldon's Class
"I Would Guess A Wavefunction And Then Vary Its Parameters Until I Found The Lowest Energy Solution."
In season 8, Sheldon becomes a junior professor and is upset when no one would take his class. Luckily for him, Howard was thinking about getting his doctorate and would happily take Sheldon's class if Sheldon agreed to find common ground.
To see if Howard had what it took to take his graduate-level physics class, Sheldon asked Howard, "How would you determine the ground state of a quantum system with no exact solution?" Howard's smart answer turned out to be exactly what he was looking for, and it was one of the few instances where Howard and Sheldon found common ground.
Howard On Assembling Furniture
"I Was Afraid Of This... These Instructions Are A Pictographic Representation Of The Least Imaginative Way To Assemble These Components."
In "The Big Bran Hypothesis," Sheldon, Leonard, and Penny were learning to coexist after Sheldon broke into Penny's apartment when she was sleeping to clean it.
The following day, they were on better terms as long as the guys helped Penny put together a piece of cheap furniture. Howard and Penny weren't always real friends, but he and Raj helped out. Howard brilliantly explained that the photo directions the shelf came with were unhelpful and he had a better way to build it. Although Penny could have made the shelf herself, Howard's brilliance inspired everyone to leave the apartment for more tools.
Howard Using His Intelligence In A Pickup Line
"760 Degrees Celsius... The Approximate Temperature Of The Young Lady In The Front Row."
Before he married Bernadette, Howard used inappropriate pickup lines on any woman who looked his way. At Caltech's physics bowl, Howard proved his brilliance in stating the right answer while also hitting on the woman in the front row.
In this episode, Raj, Howard, Leonard, and Leslie created a separate team from Sheldon because Sheldon didn't allow anyone else to speak. Luckily for Leonard's team, Howard was one of the many who had the right answers.
Howard's Killer Robot
"Featuring One Articulated Razor-Sharp Killing Saw, One Polycarbonate Grinding And Flipping Wheel, Steel-Armor Plate Exoskeleton Top And Bottom..."
In season 2, Howard and co. created a "killer robot" that they called the Mobile Omnidirectional Neutralization and Termination Eradicator (aka M.O.N.T.E).
As an engineer, Howard was the main guy behind the robot and wanted M.O.N.T.E to defeat Barry Kripke's robot. While describing their robot to Raj, Howard sounded brilliant by naming the high-tech capabilities M.O.N.T.E had.
Howard Helping Leonard On His App
"Okay, Let's Try This One — Spherical Hankel Function."
In the fourth season, Leonard had a great idea for an app that helped scientists find Differential Equations. Sheldon, Howard, and Raj were all on board to help Leonard's dream become a reality, but when Sheldon took over the group, they kicked him off the project.
Sheldon and Howard weren't always the best of friends, but Howard respected Leonard's idea and gave him some smart factors regarding the app's test data. When testing the app, Howard took a photo of the equation to make sure the answer came up as Spherical Hankel Function, and he (and the app) were right.
Howard Trying To Find A Side Hustle
"Hey, In Your Super-Cooled Helium Experiments Did You Create Quantum Vortices? If You Made A Guidance System, Couldn't You Use Those Vortices As A Gyroscope?"
In "The Positive Negative Reaction," Howard and Bernadette's relationship timeline took them down the road of parenthood. They found out she was pregnant with their first child in season 9 and were equal parts thrilled and terrified.
While sitting at a karaoke bar, Howard started thinking out loud about things he could do for extra money. He wished there was an invention he could think of that hadn't been done before. That's when he had the idea of a guidance system. This quote was the start of Howard's later mission of working for the military and creating a brilliant concept.
"It's Working! The System Is Maintaining Its Own Stability. The Quantum Vortex Apparatus Is Now Controlling The Orientation!"
Not far after putting together his guidance system (with the help of his friends), Howard found proof of the concept in the episode "The Convergence Convergence." It was exciting for fans to see Howard's transformation from that insecure, brazen man in season 1 to an accomplished scientist whose one-of-a-kind vision came to life
Shortly after proving that Howard's dream had the ability to be a reality, Howard said this quote and received an email from the military to discuss his science and how it could benefit the Air Force.
Howard Helping Leonard Avoid A Sick Sheldon
"Wireless Minicam And Bluetooth Headset. We'll Be Your Eyes."
In season 1, Sheldon had a relatable moment when he fell ill and wanted to be taken care of. The problem was that Sheldon wasn't the easiest of patients, and Leonard, Howard, and Raj were trying their best to avoid him.
The men fled their apartments and went to the movies to hide from Sheldon. But when Leonard's glasses broke, they had no choice but to go back to their apartment so Leonard could sneakily grab his glasses without being caught. Howard proved himself to be the smartest by creating a camera system that allowed him to follow Leonard as he crawled through the apartment. His smart quote ended up being true because it did help Leonard. The only problem was that Penny and Sheldon still caught him.
Howard Trying Not To Wake His Baby
"Okay, This Grid Represents The Room. All We Need To Do Is Plot Out Where Each Squeak Is And We Can Find A Quiet Path To The Crib."
In season 10, Howard was annoyed that his daughter Halley's bedroom had such a squeaky floor and didn't want it to be the reason that she woke up whenever he or Bernadette were in there.
When Howard was talking it through with Raj, the two men realized they had a few fun options they could try. Howard created a map of Halley's room and laid out the flooring in a grid-like way. He then found his way around the room room without hitting a squeaky spot. The idea ended up being a bust but Howard's ideas on the matter were still smart.
Howard Being Suspicious Of Sheldon
"Have You Gues Ever Noticed That Sheldon Always Dsiapears Every Day At 2:45?"
Howard wasn't on Sheldon's enemies list but even if he were, Howard wouldn't have cared. When there was a chance to question Sheldon or prank him, Howard lept at it.
In "The 43 Peculiarity," Howard was smart enough to realize that Sheldon disappeared every day around 2:45pm. What was odder was that he left that timeframe blank on his virtual calendar. Howard did some spying and brainstorming to find out what Sheldon was actually doing, and while Howard ended up being wrong with his theories, he was smart enough to notice that Sheldon was up to something.