About

Rajesh Ramayan "Raj" Koothrappali, Ph.D. (born October 6) works as an astrophysicist in the Physics Department at Caltech. His principal characteristic is a case of selective mutism which does not allow him to talk to women outside of his family or while not under the influence of alcohol, or believing that he consumed alcohol. Rajesh is Howard Wolowitz's best friend. Rajesh, who is normally called Raj or by his surname Koothrappali by Sheldon Cooper, is from New Delhi, India. However, he despises Indian food, and his knowledge regarding Indian culture and Hinduism is often disputed by Sheldon Cooper. He was born into a wealthy family and has five siblings, one of which is a previous girlfriend of Leonard, Priya. He is normally seen wearing a layered combination of a shirt and a vest, khakis, and a jacket. He wore a red cap only in the pilot episode. In general terms, Raj is more patient with Sheldon than Leonard, Howard, or Penny; however Sheldon is oblivious to this as he once cut him off as a friend. Raj has a "nervous bladder", meaning he gets an urge to relieve himself when under stress. One of Raj's primary personality quirks is his tendency to act or speak inappropriately according to the situation, especially when it is not called for, often earning him glares and negative remarks from the others. Raj has developed a weakness for media that is more commonly consumed by females. Raj regularly communicates with his parents, Dr. and Mrs. V.M. Koothrappali back in India via webcam. Raj is an astrophysicist in the Physics Department at Caltech, being known for a noted publication on Kuiper belt object size distribution. For his discovery of a planetary object beyond the Kuiper belt, 2008 NQ17, which he named "Planet Bollywood", Raj was included in People magazine's "30 (Visionaries) Under 30 (Years of Age) to Watch", received a larger office, and became a celebrity of sorts, drawing the envy of his friends. After six months of failed research on the composition of trans-Neptunian objects, Raj feared the prospect of being deported back to India (at which point, he describes spending his time at work as "mostly checking e-mail and messing up Wikipedia entries" wink . To stay in the country, he sought out a research position in stellar evolution with Professor Laughlin; the job proposition failed as the research team included an attractive female, and Raj accidentally drank a little too much and made a sexually explicit comment. Raj ended up working alongside Sheldon "exploring the string theory implications of gamma rays from dark matter annihilations". Ironically, he noted once before wanting to be the "Indira Gandhi of particle astrophysics (except with a p***s)".