title: George Shultz

text: He then served as an informal advisor for Bush's presidential campaign during the 2000 election and a senior member of the "Vulcans", a group of policy mentors for Bush that also included Rice, Dick Cheney, and Paul Wolfowitz. One of his most senior advisors and confidants was former ambassador Charles Hill. Shultz has been called the father of the "Bush Doctrine" and generally defended the Bush administration's foreign policy. Shultz supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, writing in support of U.S. military action months before the war began.


title: George Shultz

text: In a 2008 interview with Charlie Rose, Shultz spoke out against the U.S. embargo against Cuba, saying that U.S. sanctions against the island country were "ridiculous" in the post-Soviet world and that U.S. engagement with Cuba was a better strategy.


title: George Shultz

text: In 2003, Shultz served as co-chair (along with Warren Buffett) of California's Economic Recovery Council, an advisory group to the campaign of California gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger.


title: George Shultz

text: In later life, Shultz continued to be a strong advocate for nuclear arms control. In a 2008 interview, Shultz said: "Now that we know so much about these weapons and their power, they're almost weapons that we wouldn't use, so I think we would be better off without them." In January 2008, Shultz co-authored (with William Perry, Henry Kissinger, and Sam Nunn) an op-ed in "The Wall Street Journal" that called on governments to embrace the vision of a world free of nuclear weapons. The four created the Nuclear Threat Initiative to advance this agenda, focused on both preventing nuclear terrorist attacks and a nuclear war between world powers. In 2010, the four were featured in the documentary film "Nuclear Tipping Point", which discussed their agenda.


title: George Shultz

text: In January 2011, Shultz wrote a letter to President Barack Obama urging him to pardon Jonathan Pollard. He stated, "I am impressed that the people who are best informed about the classified material Pollard passed to Israel, former CIA Director James Woolsey and former Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Dennis DeConcini, favor his release".


title: George Shultz

text: Shultz was a prominent advocate of efforts to fight anthropogenic climate change. Shultz favored a revenue-neutral carbon tax (i.e., a carbon fee and dividend program, in which carbon dioxide emissions are taxed and the net funds received are rebated to taxpayers) as the most economically efficient means of mitigating climate change. In April 2013, he co-wrote, with economist Gary Becker, an op-ed in the "Wall Street Journal" that concluded that this plan would "benefit all Americans by eliminating the need for costly energy subsidies while promoting a level playing field for energy producers." He repeated this call in a September 2014 talk at MIT and a March 2015 op-ed in "The Washington Post". In 2014, Shultz joined the advisory board of the Citizens' Climate Lobby, and in 2017, Shultz cofounded the Climate Leadership Council, along with George H. W. Bush's Secretary of State James Baker and George W. Bush's Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson. In 2017, these Republican elder statesmen, along with Martin S. Feldstein and N. Gregory Mankiw, urged conservatives to embrace a carbon fee and dividend program.


title: George Shultz

text: In 2016, Shultz was one of eight former Treasury secretaries who called on the United Kingdom to remain a member of the European Union ahead of the "Brexit" referendum.


title: George Shultz

text: From 2011 to 2015, Shultz was a member of the board of directors of Theranos, a health technology company that became known for its false claims to have devised revolutionary blood tests. He was a prominent figure in the ensuing scandal. After joining the company's board in November 2011, he recruited other political figures, including former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of Defense William Perry, and former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn. Shultz also promoted Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes at major forums, including Stanford University's Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR), and was on record supporting her in major media publications. This helped Holmes in her efforts to raise money from investors.


title: George Shultz

text: Shultz's grandson, Tyler Shultz, joined Theranos in September 2013 after graduating from Stanford University with a degree in biology. Tyler was forced to leave the company in 2014 after raising concerns about its testing practices with Holmes and his grandfather. George Shultz initially did not believe Tyler's warnings and pressured him to keep quiet. Shultz continued to advocate for Holmes and Theranos. Tyler eventually contacted reporter John Carreyrou (who went on to expose the scandal in "The Wall Street Journal"), but as summarized by "ABC Nightline", "it wasn’t long before Theranos got wind of it and attempted to use George Shultz to silence his grandson." Tyler went to his grandfather's house to discuss the allegations, but was surprised to encounter Theranos attorneys there, who pressured him to sign a document. Tyler did not sign any agreements, even though George pressured him to: "My grandfather would say, like, things like 'Your career would be ruined if [Carreyrou's] article comes out.'" Tyler and his parents spent nearly $500,000 on legal fees, selling their house to raise the funds, in fighting Theranos' accusations of violating the NDA and divulging trade secrets.


title: George Shultz

text: When media reports exposed controversial practices there in 2015, the company moved their non-technical directors like Shultz to a "Board of Counselors" and replaced them with a technical board. In 2016 Theranos' "Board of Counselors" was "retired.". Theranos was shut down on September 4, 2018. In a 2019 media statement, Shultz praised his grandson for not having shrunk "from what he saw as his responsibility to the truth and patient safety, even when he felt personally threatened and believed that I had placed allegiance to the company over allegiance to higher values and our family. ... Tyler navigated a very complex situation in ways that made me proud."


title: George Shultz

text: Shultz had a long affiliation at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, where he was a distinguished fellow and, beginning in 2011, the Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Distinguished Fellow; from 2018 until his death, Shultz hosted events on governance at the institution. Shultz was chairman of JPMorgan Chase's international advisory council. He was co-chairman of the conservative Committee on the Present Danger.


title: George Shultz

text: He was an honorary director of the Institute for International Economics. He was a member of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) board of advisors, the New Atlantic Initiative, the Mandalay Camp at the Bohemian Grove, and the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq. He served as an advisory board member for the Partnership for a Secure America and Citizens' Climate Lobby. He was honorary chairman of the Israel Democracy Institute. Shultz was a member of the advisory board of Spirit of America, a 501(c)(3) organization.


title: George Shultz

text: Shultz served on the board of directors of the Bechtel Corporation until 1996. He served on the board of Gilead Sciences from 1996 to 2005. Shultz sat on the board of directors of Xyleco and Accretive Health.


title: George Shultz

text: Together again with former Secretary of Defense William Perry, Shultz was serving on the board of Acuitus at the time of his death. And he has been member of the advisory board of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.


title: George Shultz

text: While on a rest and recreation break in Hawaii from serving in the Marines in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater during World War II, Shultz met military nurse lieutenant Helena Maria O'Brien (1915–1995). They married on February 16, 1946, and had five children: Margaret Ann Tilsworth, Kathleen Pratt Shultz Jorgensen, Peter Milton Shultz, Barbara Lennox Shultz White, and Alexander George Shultz. O'Brien died of pancreatic cancer in 1995.


title: George Shultz

text: In 1997, Shultz married Charlotte Mailliard Swig, a prominent San Francisco philanthropist and socialite. They remained married until his death. Shultz was a member of an Episcopal church.


title: George Shultz

text: Shultz died at age 100 at his home in Stanford, California, on February 6, 2021. He was buried next to his first wife at Dawes Cemetery in Cummington, Massachusetts.


title: George Shultz

text: President Joe Biden reacted to Shultz's death by saying, "He was a gentleman of honor and ideas, dedicated to public service and respectful debate, even into his 100th year on Earth. That's why multiple presidents, of both political parties, sought his counsel. I regret that, as president, I will not be able to benefit from his wisdom, as have so many of my predecessors."


title: George Shultz

text: Honorary degrees were conferred on Shultz from the universities of Columbia, Notre Dame, Loyola, Pennsylvania, Rochester, Princeton, Carnegie Mellon, City University of New York, Yeshiva, Northwestern, Technion, Tel Aviv, Weizmann Institute of Science, Baruch College of New York, Williams College, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tbilisi State University in the Republic of Georgia, and Keio University in Tokyo.


title: Jake Johnson

text: Mark Jake Johnson Weinberger (born May 28, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, film producer and screenwriter best known for his role as Nick Miller in the Fox sitcom "New Girl" (2011–2018), for which he was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series in 2018, and as Peter B. Parker / Spider-Man in the Oscar-winning animated film "" (2018), a role he will reprise in its (2023). He also starred in "Let's Be Cops" (2014), and appeared in "Paper Heart" (2009), "Get Him to the Greek" (2010), "Safety Not Guaranteed" (2012), "21 Jump Street" (2012), "Drinking Buddies" (2013), "Jurassic World" (2015), "The Mummy" (2017), and "Tag" (2018). He co-starred as Greyson "Grey" McConnell in the ABC drama series "Stumptown" (2019–2020).


title: Jake Johnson

text: Johnson was born in Evanston, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago, the son of Ken Weinberger, who owned a car dealership, and Eve Johnson, an artist who made stained glass windows. He was named after his maternal uncle, Mark Johnson, who died at the age of 26 in a motorcycle accident in 1977, a year before Jake was born. Jake's father is from an Ashkenazi Jewish family, while his mother's ancestry is English, Irish, and Polish Catholic. Johnson attended New Trier High School in Winnetka. His parents divorced when he was two, and he and his older siblings, brother Dan and sister Rachel, were raised by his single mother. Johnson then took his mother's last name during high school. He has stated that when he was 17, his father resurfaced and now they are close.


title: Jake Johnson

text: Johnson grew up a fan of the Second City improv troupe. Raised in Wilmette, he graduated from New Trier High School in Winnetka and started his post-secondary education at the University of Iowa. While in Iowa City, he wrote a play, which wound up earning him admission to the Dramatic Writing Department at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, followed by the 2002 John Golden Playwriting Prize and the Sloan Fellowship for Screenwriting. The New York City off-Broadway group The Ensemble Studio Theater produced his play "Cousins".


title: Jake Johnson

text: While in New York, Johnson started a sketch comedy troupe "The Midwesterners", modeling their material and style after HBO's sketch comedy "Mr. Show with Bob and David". After moving to Los Angeles, Johnson supported himself as a waiter and a production assistant, also scoring a series of bit feature and guest TV roles. In 2007, he landed a more regular gig with the TBS mini-show "Derek and Simon: The Show", produced by Bob Odenkirk.


title: Jake Johnson

text: In 2009, he appeared in the mockumentary "Paper Heart". In 2010, Johnson was cast in a small role in the Russell Brand comedy, "Get Him to the Greek". He played Uma Thurman's character's brother in the romantic comedy "Ceremony", and as a buddy of Ashton Kutcher's character in "No Strings Attached". In 2011, he played Jesus in "A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas". In 2012, he appeared in the film version of "21 Jump Street", which starred Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum. Johnson made an appearance at the 2012 Sundance Festival as one of the leads in "Safety Not Guaranteed".


title: Jake Johnson

text: From 2011 to 2018, Johnson starred as Nick Miller alongside Zooey Deschanel on "New Girl". In 2013, he appeared in the music video for "Rouse Yourself", a song by indie-soul band JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound alongside his "Safety Not Guaranteed" co-star Aubrey Plaza. He also starred (as a fictional version of himself) in a series of Dodge Dart commercials with Craig Robinson. In 2015, he played park informatician Lowery Cruthers in "Jurassic World". In 2017, Johnson starred as Eddie Garrett in the Netflix comedy film "Win It All".


title: Jake Johnson

text: The web series "Drunk History" was inspired by a 2007 conversation that Johnson had with series creator Derek Waters. Johnson, while drunk, was trying to describe the story of Otis Redding's death to Waters, and Waters was inspired to build a series around history narrated by drunk people. Johnson later appeared in the first episode of the web series as Aaron Burr. After it was adapted for television under the same title on Comedy Central, he appeared in the eighth episode as William B. Travis, and the ninth episode of season three as Boris Spassky.


title: Jake Johnson

text: In 2018, Johnson appeared in the comedy film "Tag" as Randy Cilliano. In the same year, it was announced that Johnson was cast in the lead role of Ben Hopkins in the Netflix adult animation series "Hoops". Also that year, Johnson provided the voice of Peter B. Parker / Spider-Man in "."


title: Jake Johnson

text: In 2019, Johnson was cast in the lead role of Grey McConnell in the ABC drama series "Stumptown". He took over the role from Mark Webber, who played the character in the original pilot episode.


title: Jake Johnson

text: Johnson married artist Erin Payne in 2006 and has twin daughters Elizabeth and Olivia, born in 2014. Johnson and Payne have been together since 2003.


title: M14 rifle

text: The M14 rifle, officially the United States Rifle, Caliber 7.62 mm, M14, is an American selective fire battle rifle chambered for the 7.62×51mm NATO (.308 in) cartridge. It became the standard-issue rifle for the U.S. military in 1959, replacing the M1 Garand rifle in service with the U.S. Army by 1958 and the U.S. Marine Corps by 1965. The M14 was used by the U.S. Army, Navy, and Marine Corps for Basic and Advanced Individual Training (AIT) from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s.


title: M14 rifle

text: The M14 was the last American battle rifle issued in quantity to U.S. military personnel. In 1967, it was officially replaced by the M16 assault rifle, a lighter weapon with a smaller, intermediate cartridge. The M14 rifle remains in limited service across all branches of the U.S. military, with variants used as sniper and designated marksman rifles, accurized competition weapons, and ceremonial weapons by honor guards, color guards, drill teams and ceremonial guards. Civilian semi-automatic variants are used for hunting, plinking, target shooting, and shooting competitions.


title: M14 rifle

text: The M14 served as the basis for the M21 and M25 sniper rifles, which were eventually replaced by the M24 Sniper Weapon System. A new variant of the M14, the Mk 14 Enhanced Battle Rifle (EBR), has been in service since 2002.


title: M14 rifle

text: The M14's development stemmed from an extensive line of experimental weapons based on the M1 Garand rifle. Although the M1 was among the most advanced infantry rifle designs of the late 1930s, it was not without faults, as various modifications to the basic M1 were considered during the last months of World War II. Changes included the addition of fully automatic fire and the replacement of the eight-round en bloc clip with a detachable box magazine with a capacity of 20 rounds. Winchester, Remington, and Springfield Armory's John Garand offered alternate conversions. Garand's design, the T20, was the most popular, and T20 prototypes served as the basis for a number of Springfield test rifles from 1945 through the early 1950s.


title: M14 rifle

text: In 1945, Earle Harvey of Springfield Armory designed an entirely different rifle, the T25, for the new T65 .30 light rifle cartridge (7.62×49mm). This was at the direction of Col. Rene Studler, then serving in the Pentagon. Harvey and Studler were then transferred to Springfield Armory in late 1945, in order to continuously develop the T25. The T25 was designed to use the T65 service cartridge, a Frankford Arsenal design based upon the .30-06 cartridge used in the M1. However, it was shortened to the same length of the .300 Savage. Although shorter than the .30-06, meaning less powder capacity, the T65 cartridge retained the ballistics and energy of the .30-06. This can be attributed to the use of a recently developed ball powder designed by Olin Industries. After experimenting with several bullet designs, the T65 was finalized for adoption as the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge. Olin Industries later introduced the cartridge to the commercial market as the .308 Winchester. After a series of revisions by Earle Harvey and the other members of the .30 light rifle design group following the 1950 Fort Benning tests, the T25 was renamed the T47.


title: M14 rifle

text: The T44 prototype rifle was a conventional design developed at Springfield Armory as an alternative to the T47. With minimal funding available, the earliest T44 prototypes used T20E2 receivers fitted with magazine filler blocks and re-barreled for the 7.62×51mm cartridge. Additionally, the long operating rod/piston of the M1 was replaced by the T47's gas cut-off system. Though not principally designed by any single engineer, Lloyd Corbett is credited for several refinements to the T44 design. Refinements included the addition of a bolt roller intended to reduce friction, and a straight operating rod.


title: M14 rifle

text: The T44 was tested in a competitive service rifle competition conducted by the Infantry Board at Fort Benning, Georgia against the Springfield T47 (a modified T25) and the T48, a variant of Fabrique Nationale's FN FAL (from "Fusil Automatique Leger", French for "light automatic rifle"). The T47, which did not have a bolt roller and performed worse than both the T44 and the T48 in dust and cold weather tests. Thus, it was dropped from consideration in 1953. During 1952–53, testing proved the T48 and the T44 to be roughly comparable in performance, with the T48 holding an advantage in ease of field stripping and dust resistance, as well as a longer product development lead time. A "Newsweek" article in July 1953 speculated that the T48/FAL could have been selected over the T44. During the winter of 1953–54, both rifles competed in the winter rifle trials at U.S. Army facilities in the Arctic. Springfield Armory engineers, anxious to ensure the selection of the T44, had been specially preparing and modifying the test T44 rifles for weeks with the aid of the armory's cold chamber, including a redesign of the T44 gas regulator and custom modifications to magazines and other parts to reduce friction and seizing in extreme cold. The T48 rifles received no such special preparation and in the continued cold weather testing began to experience sluggish gas system functioning, aggravated by the T48's close-fitting surfaces between bolt and carrier, and carrier and receiver. FN engineers opened the gas ports in an attempt to improve functioning, but this caused early/violent extraction and broken parts as a result of the increased pressures. As a result, the T44 was ranked superior in cold weather operation to the T48. The Arctic Test Board report made it clear that the T48 needed improvement and that the U.S. would not adopt the T48 until it had successfully completed another round of Arctic tests the following winter.


title: M14 rifle

text: In June 1954, funding became available to manufacture newly fabricated T44 receivers specially designed for the shorter T65 cartridge. This single change to the T44 design saved a pound over the M1 Garand. Tests at Fort Benning with the T44 and T48 continued through the summer and fall of 1956. By this time, the T48/FAL rifles had been so improved that malfunction rates were almost as low as the T44.


title: M14 rifle

text: The T44 was selected over the T48/FAL due to lower weight, simplicity with fewer parts, the T44's self-compensating gas system, and because it was postulated, falsely, that the T44 could be manufactured on existing machinery built for the M1 rifle. In 1957, the U.S. formally adopted the T44 as the U.S. infantry service rifle designated M14.


title: M14 rifle

text: Initial production contracts for the M14 were awarded to the Springfield Armory, Winchester, and Harrington & Richardson. Thompson-Ramo-Wooldridge Inc. (TRW) would later be awarded a production contract for the rifle as well. 1,376,031 M14 service rifles were produced from 1959 to 1964.


title: M14 rifle

text: Springfield Armory produced 6,641 new M14 NM rifles in 1962 and 1963, while TRW produced 4,874 new M14 NM rifles in 1964. Springfield Armory later upgraded 2,094 M14 rifles in 1965 and 2,395 M14 rifles in 1966 to National Match specifications, while 2,462 M14 rifles were rebuilt to National Match standards in 1967 at the Rock Island Arsenal. A total of 11,130 National Match rifles were delivered by Springfield Armory, Rock Island Arsenal, and TRW during 1962–1967.


title: M14 rifle

text: Production M14 rifles made by Springfield Armory and Winchester used forged receivers and bolts milled from AISI 8620 steel, a low-carbon steel with added molybdenum-chromium. Harrington & Richardson M14 production used AISI 8620 steel as well, except for ten receivers milled from AISI 1330 low-carbon steel and a single receiver made from a high-nickel alloy steel


title: M14 rifle

text: After the M14's adoption, Springfield Armory began tooling a new production line in 1958, delivering the first service rifles to the U.S. Army in July 1959. However, long production delays resulted in the 101st Airborne Division being the only unit in the army fully equipped with the M14 by the end of 1960. The Fleet Marine Force finally completed the change from M1 to M14 in late 1961. Springfield Armory records reflect that M14 manufacture ended as TRW, fulfilling its second contract, delivered its final production increment in fiscal year 1965 (1 July 1964 – 30 June 1965). The Springfield archive also indicates the 1.38 million rifles were acquired for just over $143 million, for a unit cost of about $104.


title: M14 rifle

text: The M14 was developed to replace four different weapons: the M1 Garand, the M3 submachine gun, the M1 Carbine and the M1918 Browning automatic rifle (BAR). The intention was to simplify the logistical requirements of the troops by limiting the types of ammunition and parts needed to be supplied. However, it proved to be an impossible task to replace all these weapons; the M14 was deemed "completely inferior" to even the World War II M1 Garand in a September 1962 report by the U.S. Department of Defense comptroller. The cartridge was too powerful for the submachine gun role and the weapon was simply too light to serve as a light machine gun replacement for the M1918 BAR.


title: M14 rifle

text: The rifle was unwieldy in the thick brush of Vietnam due to its length and weight, and the traditional wood stocks made of walnut and birch tended to swell and expand in the heavy moisture of the jungle, adversely affecting accuracy. Fiberglass stocks were produced to resolve this problem, but the rifle was discontinued before the fiberglass stocks could be distributed for field use. With 2,560 ft·lbf (3,463 J) of muzzle energy, the power of the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge was valued for its excellent range and good cover penetration, however the powerful cartridge also deemed the weapon to be virtually uncontrollable in fully automatic fire, so most M14s were permanently set to semi-automatic fire only to avoid wasting ammunition in combat. Although marred by numerous shortcomings, the rifle served during its brief tour of duty with some modest success.


title: M14 rifle

text: Within the Army research and development community there were disputes between factions that supported the adoption of the M14 and the 7.62×51mm round from their inception and the other factions who opposed them. The M14 remained the primary infantry rifle in Vietnam until it was replaced by the M16 in 1967, though combat engineer units kept them several years longer. Further procurement of the M14 was abruptly halted in early 1968 due to a U.S. Department of Defense report which stated that the AR-15, which would soon be designated the M16, was superior to the M14. A series of tests by the U.S. Department of the Army following the report resulted in the decision to cancel the M14, although the DOD did not cancel the previous FY 1963 orders to be delivered. The M16 was ordered as a replacement for the M14 by direction of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in 1964, over the objection of the U.S. Army officers who had backed the M14. Though production of the M14 was officially discontinued, some discontented troops managed to persist with them while deriding the early model M16 as a frail and under-powered "Mattel toy" that was prone to jamming. A Congressional investigation later discovered these characteristics to be the result of intentional attempts by Army bureaucracy to sabotage the M16's field performance in Vietnam. In late 1967, the U.S. Army designated the M16 as the "Standard A" rifle, and the M14 became a "Limited Standard" weapon. The M14 rifle remained the standard rifle for U.S. Army Basic Training and troops stationed in Europe until 1970.


title: M14 rifle

text: The U.S. Army converted several thousand M14s into M21 sniper rifles, which remained standard issue for this purpose until the adoption of the M24 SWS in 1988.


title: M14 rifle

text: In 1969, tooling for the M14 was sold to Taiwan and later many rifles were exported to Baltic countries and Israel.


title: M14 rifle

text: Although the M14 was phased out as the standard-issue rifle by 1970, M14 variants are still used by various branches of the U.S. Military as well as other armed forces, especially as a sniper rifle and as a designated marksman rifle, due to its accuracy and effectiveness at long range. In 1989, the Marine Corps began a program to upgrade their M14s into DMRs. The final product created by the Precision Weapons Section in Marine Corps Base Quantico was called the Designated Marksman Rifle (DMR), and was intended for use by security teams (Special Reaction Teams (SRTs), FAST companies), and Marine Scout Snipers in the cases where a semi-automatic rifle would be more appropriate than the standard bolt-action M40A1/A3 rifle. The USMC Rifle Team currently uses the M14 in shooting competitions.


title: M14 rifle

text: Some original production M14s, not to be confused with M21 rifles, were in use by the Army until the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars, where they began to be employed as designated marksman and sniper rifles. A 2009 study conducted by the U.S. Army claimed that half of the engagements in Afghanistan occurred from beyond . American 5.56×45mm NATO service rifles were ineffective at these ranges, which prompted the reissue of thousands of M14s. Common modifications included scopes, fiberglass stocks, and other accessories.


title: M14 rifle

text: The 1st Battalion of the 3rd United States Infantry Regiment ("The Old Guard") in the Military District of Washington is the sole remaining regular U.S. Army combat field unit where the M14 is still issued as the standard rifle, along with a chromed bayonet and an extra wooden stock with a white sling for military funerals, parades, and other ceremonies. The United States Air Force Honor Guard uses a version of the M14. The U.S. Navy Ceremonial Guard and Base Honor Guards also use the M14 for 3-volley salutes in military funerals. It is also the drill and parade rifle of the United States Military Academy, United States Naval Academy, United States Air Force Academy, The Citadel, Norwich University, Virginia Military Institute, and North Georgia College and State University. U.S. Navy ships carry several M14s in their armories. They are issued to sailors going on watch out on deck in port, and to Backup Alert Forces. The M14 is also used to shoot a large rubber projectile to another ship when underway to start the lines over for alongside refueling and replenishment.


title: M14 rifle

text: Various sniper variants have been used by the United States Navy SEALs. Often mistaken for the M21 in the overt literature, only one of them has received a standard name in the U.S. military designations system: the M25, developed by the Special Forces. SEALs also use the Mk 14 Mod 0 Enhanced Battle Rifle (EBR) for close-quarters battle and in a designated marksman role. "Delta Force" units are known to have used M14 sniper variants. Eric L. Haney indicated in his memoir "Inside Delta Force" that every soldier going through the Operator Training Course trained on the M14. According to "", the well-known account of the Battle of Mogadishu, Sergeant First Class Randy Shughart used an M14 for sniping from helicopters to provide support fire to ground troops.


title: M14 rifle

text: The U.S. Army Special Forces ("Green Berets") have made some use of the M25 "spotter rifle". The M25 was developed in the late 1980s within the 10th Special Forces Group, which was charged to support Special Forces sniper weapons as well as the Special Operations Target Interdiction Course (SOTIC). The M25 was first planned as a replacement for the old M21, but after the Army adoption of the M24 SWS as its standard sniper rifle, the M25 was intended to be used by spotters of the sniper teams, while the snipers would use the bolt-action M24.


title: M14 rifle

text: The M14 has remained in service longer than any other U.S. infantry rifle, surpassing the M1903 Springfield rifle, and holds the distinction of serving one of the shortest spans of time as the standard infantry service rifle of the U.S. Army, only second to the US Springfield Krag–Jørgensen rifles and carbines.


title: M14 rifle

text: The Philippines issues M14 rifles, M1/M2 carbines, M1 rifles, and M16 rifles, to their civilian defense forces and various cadet corps service academies. The Hellenic Navy uses the M14.


title: M14 rifle

text: In 1967 the Springfield tooling and assembly line for M14 production was sold to the Republic of China, also known as Taiwan. In 1968 the State Arsenal of the Republic of China began producing the Type 57 rifle, and from 1969 to the present produced over 1 million Type 57 rifles. The Type 57 is currently in service with airport guards and the reserves.


title: M14 rifle

text: In Mainland China, Norinco has produced an M14 variant for export, some of which were sold in the U.S. prior to the importation ban of 1989 and the enactment of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. Rifles made by Poly Technologies were imported to the US in the 1980s but were banned from further import in 1989 by the George H.W. Bush Administration. They were being sold in Canada, Italy and New Zealand as of 2008. They have been marketed under the M14S and M305 names.


title: M14 rifle

text: The M14 rifle was first furnished with a walnut stock, then with birch, and finally with a synthetic fiberglass stock due to the moisture in the humid jungle environments of rural Vietnam causing wood to swell. The stock was fitted with a hinged shoulder rest for improved user comfort when firing from a prone position. Original equipment walnut and birch stocks carry the Department of Defense acceptance stamp or cartouche, consisting of an arc of three stars above a spread-winged eagle. After successful test-firing, a proof stamp was also applied to these stocks consisting of a letter "P" within a circle.


title: M14 rifle

text: Rifles manufactured through late 1960 were provided with walnut handguards. Synthetic, slot-ventilated handguards were produced but proved to be too fragile for military use. These were replaced by a solid synthetic handguard that is still in use, usually colored in dark brown, black, or a camouflage pattern.


title: M14 rifle

text: Although M14 rifle production ended in 1964, the limited standard status of the weapon resulted in the continued manufacture of accessories and spare parts into the late 1960s and beyond.


title: M14 rifle

text: The M15 Squad Automatic Weapon was a modified M14 developed as a replacement for the .30-06 M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle for use as a squad automatic weapon. As with the M14, it was chambered for 7.62×51mm NATO. It featured a heavier barrel and stock, two pistol grips (one fixed, one folding) a hinged butt plate, a selector switch for fully automatic fire, a bipod, and used the standard BAR sling.


title: M14 rifle

text: Firing tests showed that the M14, when equipped with the selector switch, hinged butt plate and bipod, performed as well as the M15. As a result, the M15 was dropped and the modified M14 became the squad automatic weapon. Accuracy and control problems with this variant led to the addition of a pistol grip, a folding rubber covered metal foregrip and a muzzle stabilizer. However, it remained a poor suppressive fire weapon owing to its 20-round magazines and a tendency to rapidly overheat.


title: M14 rifle

text: The M14E1 was tested with a variety of folding stocks to provide better maneuverability for armored infantry, paratroopers and others. No variant was standardized.


title: M14 rifle

text: Selective fire version of the standard M14 used as a squad automatic weapon. Successor to the full-automatic M14 with a bipod and the never-issued M15. The developmental model was known as the M14E2. As a conceptional weapon developed by the Infantry School, it was known as the M14 (USAIB) (United States Army Infantry Board). It was issued in 1963 and redesignated as M14A1 in 1966.


title: M14 rifle

text: It had a full pistol-gripped in-line stock to control recoil, a plastic upper forend to save weight, a muzzle compensator, the BAR sling, an M2 bipod, a folding metal vertical foregrip mounted under the forend of the stock, and a rubber recoil shoulder pad under the hinged butt plate. Although an improvement over the M14 when in full-auto, it was still difficult to control, overheated rapidly, and the 20-round magazine limited its ability to deliver suppressive fire.


title: M14 rifle

text: The M14M is a semi-automatic only version of the standard M14 that was developed for use in civilian rifle marksmanship activities such as the Civilian Marksmanship Program. M14M rifles were converted from existing M14 rifles by welding the select-fire mechanism to prevent full-automatic firing. The M14NM (National Match) is an M14M rifle built to National Match accuracy standards.


title: M14 rifle

text: The M14M and M14NM rifles are described in a (now-obsolete) Army regulation, AR 920–25, "Rifles, M14M and M14NM, For Civilian Marksmanship Use," dated 8 February 1965. Paragraph 2, among other things, stated that the Director of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division, Internal Revenue Service, Department of the Treasury (predecessor to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives) had ruled that M14M and M14NM rifles so modified would not be subject to the 1934 National Firearms Act (NFA) and, as such, could be sold or issued to civilians. However, with the passage of the Gun Control Act of 1968, the NFA was amended to prohibit sales of previously modified automatic weapons such as the M14M and M14NM to civilians.


title: M14 rifle

text: "Stand-off Munition Disruption", used by Explosive Ordnance Disposal personnel to destroy unexploded ordnance. Essentially an M14 National Match rifle with scope.


title: M14 rifle

text: The Mk 14 Enhanced Battle Rifle is a more tactical version of the M14, with a shorter 18-inch barrel, a retractable stock and multiple rails for more accessories.


title: M14 rifle

text: Modified M14 using the same stock as the Mk 14 but with a 22-inch barrel and a Smith Enterprise muzzle brake, used by the U.S. Coast Guard.


title: M14 rifle

text: Designated marksman version of the M14, used by the U.S. Marine Corps. Replaced by the M39 Enhanced Marksman Rifle.


title: M14 rifle

text: Modified M14 DMR fitted with the same stock as Mk 14, used by the U.S. Marine Corps. Being replaced by the M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System.


title: M14 rifle

text: The M89SR is an M14 in bullpup configuration first introduced by Sardius in the 1980s. Later produced by Technical Equipment International (TEI) for the Israel Defense Forces


title: M14 rifle

text: AWC G2A Sniper Rifle is a modified M14 with bullpup stock designed by Lynn McWilliams and Gale McMillian in the late 1990s. Produced and delivered for testing at the Fort Bragg sniper school.


title: M14 rifle

text: The M21 and M25 are accurized sniper models of the M14, assembled with more care and precision than is standard.


title: M14 rifle

text: A product of Troy Industries the CAR 14 (Carbine Assault Rifle 14) is a smaller and lighter tactical version of the M14. Its barrel is 12.5 inches long and it weighs 7.9 pounds. The rifle has select-fire ability, a threaded barrel for a muzzle device, a topmounted M1913 rail for optics, and an operating rod cover.


title: M14 rifle

text: From 1984 to 1991, Federal Ordnance of South El Monte, California sold a semi-auto version of the M14 rifle. Initially named the "M14" or "M14A", the rifle utilized an aftermarket semi-auto receiver fitted with surplus USGI M14 parts. All receivers were machined from castings of AISI 8620 alloy steel. Except for the first fifty receivers, the castings were supplied by Electro Crisol Metal, S.A. of Santander, Spain, then imported to the US for heat treatment, finish machining, and exterior phosphate treatment. M14 and M14A receivers were heat-treated using the carburizing process by a firm in Santa Ana, California, followed by finish machining on a CNC machine at Federal Ordnance in South El Monte.


title: M14 rifle

text: Federal Ordnance M14 and M14A receivers were heat-treated and carburized according to USGI M14 requirements. Each completed production rifle was proof fired, then tested for functioning by firing three rounds. USGI parts and bolts were used extensively in Federal Ordnance rifles through at least serial number 88XX. In 1989, Federal Ordnance renamed the rifle the "M14SA" and "M14CSA". Rifles in the 93XX serial range and higher have modified receivers designed to accept Chinese-made bolts, barrels, and other parts owing to a shortage of original USGI components. Approximately 51,000 complete Federal Ordnance M14 rifles and 60,000 or more receivers were manufactured before production was halted in late 1991.


title: M14 rifle

text: Norinco manufactures versions of the M14 rifle known as the M14S (Sporter) and the M305. There are two versions of the M305. The M305A/B, one with the same barrel as the regular M14 and one with a short barrel. The M305A is an M14 chambered to fire 7.62x39 ammo. and the M305B is an M14 with an 18.5" barrel and chambered to fire in 7.62 NATO caliber. Copies of the select-fire and semi-auto versions of the M14 were also made by Norinco.


title: M14 rifle

text: These rifles were banned from U.S. importation in 1994 due to a Clinton-era prohibition on PRC-made firearms. They were commonly sold and were popular in Canada for hunting and target shooting until they were reclassified as Prohibited firearms on May 1, 2020.


title: M14 rifle

text: Production of these M14s were contracted out to Yunnan Xiyi Industry Company Limited or State Factory Number 356 from the rifles to the 7.62 mm NATO magazines.


title: M14 rifle

text: Poly Technologies of the People's Republic of China produced an unlicensed version of the M14 rifle known as the M14/S. As with the Norinco rifles, manufacture was subcontracted to State Factory Number 356. All Polytech rifles were banned in the 1989 firearm importation ban by the President George H.W Bush administration.


title: M14 rifle

text: Smith Enterprise Inc. was founded as Western Ordnance in 1979 by Richard Smith in Mesa, Arizona and the company made numerous types of rifles, but specialized in the M1 Garand and M14. In 1993, Western Ordnance reformed as Smith Enterprise and has built and rebuilt numerous M14 rifles for the US Military and the militaries of Colombia, Canada and other nations.


title: M14 rifle

text: The U.S. Department of Defense contracted with Smith Enterprise to build and modify M14 rifles for use by soldiers, Marines and sailors in Iraq and Afghanistan. Smith Enterprise played a major part in the M14 rifle modernization projects for various US military units which resulted in the development of the U.S. Navy Mark 14 Enhanced Battle Rifle. The company's history included originally making forged receivers for M14 rifles and briefly switching to investment casting. Smith stopped making receivers for a few years, but reentered the market with receivers machined from bar stock in 2002.


title: M14 rifle

text: In 2003, Smith Enterprise Inc. created its version of the M14 Enhanced Battle Rifle known as the Mk14 Mod 0, type SEI. The rifle used a medium heavy-weight 18-inch barrel and was used as a basis to create the US Navy's Mark 14 Mod 0 with Springfield Armory, Inc. being tasked to supply the necessary machinery in cooperation with the Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division. SEI builds an improved M14 gas cylinder as a component of their specialized rifles and for the military to upgrade older rifles. The gas cylinder is assigned the NATO Stock Number: NSN 1005-00-790-8766.


title: M14 rifle

text: Springfield Armory, Inc. of Geneseo, Illinois, produces a semi-automatic only version of the M14 known as the M1A. The company produces several variations of the basic rifle with different stocks, barrel weights, barrel lengths, and other optional features. The Springfield M1A and its model variants have been widely distributed in the U.S. civilian market and have seen use by various law enforcement agencies in the U.S. Springfield Armory, Inc. also produce the SOCOM series and the Scout Squad Rifle, based on the short-barreled version of the M14. The SOCOM 16 comes with provisions to mount a red dot sight and the SOCOM II adds railed handguards to the package.


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: Sheldon Lee Cooper, Ph.D., Sc.D., is a fictional character in the CBS television series "The Big Bang Theory" and its spinoff series "Young Sheldon", portrayed by actors Jim Parsons and Iain Armitage respectively (with Parsons as the latter series' narrator). For his portrayal, Parsons won four Primetime Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, a TCA Award, and two Critics' Choice Television Awards. The character's childhood is the focus of "Young Sheldon": the series' first season is set in 1989 when nine-year-old prodigy Sheldon has skipped ahead five grades, to start high school alongside his older brother.


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: The adult Sheldon is a senior theoretical physicist at The California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and for the first ten seasons of "The Big Bang Theory" shares an apartment with his colleague and best friend, Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki); they are also friends and coworkers with Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) and Rajesh Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar). In season 10, Sheldon moves across the hall with his girlfriend Amy Farrah Fowler (Mayim Bialik), in the former apartment of Leonard's wife Penny (Kaley Cuoco).


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: He has a genius-level IQ of 187. (In "The Big Bang Theory", it is said that his and Leonard's IQs add up to 360, and Leonard says his is 173. In "Young Sheldon", his mother says that he has the same IQ as Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.) However, he displays a fundamental lack of social skills, a tenuous understanding of humor, and difficulty recognizing irony and sarcasm in other people, although he himself often employs them. He exhibits highly idiosyncratic behavior and a general lack of humility, empathy, and toleration. These characteristics provide the majority of the humor involving him, which are credited with making him the show's breakout character. Some viewers have asserted that Sheldon's personality is consistent with autism spectrum disorder (or what used to be classified as Asperger's Syndrome). Co-creator Bill Prady has stated that Sheldon's character was neither conceived nor developed with regard to Asperger's, although Parsons has said that in his opinion, Sheldon "couldn't display "more" traits" of Asperger's.


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: The character of Sheldon Cooper was inspired by a computer programmer personally known to series co-creator Bill Prady. He and his friend Leonard Hofstadter are named in honor of actor/producer Sheldon Leonard and Nobel Prize Laureate Leon Cooper. Chuck Lorre originally intended Johnny Galecki to play the role, but Galecki thought he would be "better suited" for the character of Leonard. Lorre said that when Jim Parsons auditioned for the role, he was "so startlingly good" that he was asked to reaudition "to make sure he hadn't gotten lucky".


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: Sheldon and his fraternal twin sister, Missy, were born on February 26, 1980, at Lawrence Memorial Hospital in Galveston, Texas, and raised in Medford, a fictional small town in East Texas that is a three-hour drive from Dallas, along with their older brother, George Jr., by their mother, Mary Cooper, an overtly devout Baptist, and their father, George Cooper Sr., a football coach. Sheldon once got his father fired when he told Mr. Hinckley, a store owner, that George was stealing from the cash register. In "Young Sheldon", this is retconned: his father is a football coach who was fired from his coaching position in Galveston because he disclosed that other coaches were illegally recruiting players to their school, forcing the family to return to Medford. He does drink, mostly beer, and is a loving father who is trying to understand his intellectually gifted son. The only member of his family to have actively encouraged his work in science was his maternal grandfather, whom he cherished and affectionately called "Pop-Pop", and who died when Sheldon was five years old. Pop-Pop's loss is what caused Sheldon to not like Christmas very much when his Christmas wish to bring Pop-Pop back did not come true. Sheldon's closest relative is his maternal grandmother whom he affectionately calls "Meemaw", and who in turn calls him "Moon Pie". His aunt was also said to have encouraged his work in science by giving him medical equipment, "in case his work in physics failed, he'd have a 'trade' to fall back on". In "Young Sheldon", it is shown that his childhood friend Tam was the one who introduced him to non-scientific interests such as comic books and "Dungeons & Dragons".


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: Sheldon was interested in science from an early age, and was a child prodigy, although due to his behavioral quirks and his lack of humility about his superior intellect, he was bullied by classmates and neighbors. Sheldon entered college at the age of eleven, and at age fourteen he graduated from college "summa cum laude". Throughout the entire run of "The Big Bang Theory", the college he went to for undergraduate studies had not been revealed, but he always felt it was superior to his fellow "Big Bang Theory" colleagues' alma maters of Princeton (Leonard), Cambridge (Raj), and MIT (Howard); however, it is implied in "The Tam Turbulence" (Season 12, Episode 4) that Sheldon is in fact a Caltech alumnus, and in "Young Sheldon" he is said to enroll at the fictional East Texas Tech. From then, he worked on his doctorate, was a visiting professor at the University of Heidelberg in Germany, was the youngest person at the time to receive the Stevenson Award, and has appeared on the cover of "Journal of Physical Chemistry A". Sheldon is now a theoretical physicist doing research at Caltech, although he stated in "Young Sheldon" that he could not see himself living in California due to their carefree lifestyles.


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: Like Leonard, Raj, and Howard, Sheldon is characterized as being highly intelligent, but he tends to display childish qualities, such as extreme stubbornness and meanness. It is claimed by Bernadette that the reason Sheldon is sometimes mean is because the part of his brain that tells him it is wrong to be mean is "getting a wedgie from the rest of his brain". However, in season 8's "The Space Probe Disintegration", Sheldon tearfully admits to Leonard that he is aware of how his behavior comes across. The first four episodes of "The Big Bang Theory" portray Sheldon slightly inconsistently with respect to his later characterization, in which he is depicted as rather witty and sarcastic, and slightly flirtatious towards Penny in the pilot episode, in which he and Leonard briefly compete for her attention: according to Prady, the character "began to evolve after episode five or so and became his own thing".


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: Sheldon frequently states that he possesses an eidetic memory (although his powers of autobiographical recall are more like hyperthymesia) and an IQ of 187, although he claims his IQ cannot be accurately measured by normal tests. He originally claimed to have a master's degree and two doctoral degrees, but this list has increased. Sheldon possesses a mastery (and extensive knowledge) of various subjects such as physics, spectroscopy, radiology, chemistry, pharmacology, both anatomy and physiology, zoology, microbiology, neuroscience, astronomy, cosmology, algebra, geometry, calculus, trigonometry, economics, computers, software engineering, robotics/cybernetics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, history, anthropology, geography, linguistics, cryptography, forensics, and railroad engineering (he is a well-known railfan and a fancier of model trains), and in addition to being fluent in Klingon, has some knowledge of Swedish, Finnish, Mandarin, and Hindi. It is also revealed in "Young Sheldon" that he is proficient in Spanish, although that particular proficiency has apparently decreased by the time of "The Big Bang Theory". He also shows great musical talent, knowing how to play the piano (as does Parsons in real life) and the theremin (which Parsons had learned to play in real life) and can sing with perfect pitch. Although his friends have similar intellects to him, his eccentricities, stubbornness, and narcissism frequently frustrate them. Sheldon occasionally uses slang (in a very unnatural fashion) and follows jokes with his catchphrase "Bazinga!", which is now an officially registered trademark of Warner Bros. He is uncomfortable with human physical contact and has mysophobia, which makes his exceptionally rare hugs extremely awkward and painful-looking. He also has hemophobia and synesthesia, the latter being demonstrated when he described prime numbers as being red, twin primes as being pink and smelling like gasoline and Fudgesicles as tasting like the speed of light. Sheldon has difficulty coping when asked to keep a secret, when he is interrupted, or when he hears arguing. He is also a notary public and uses his knowledge in law and contracts usually for his own advantage and is always distressed when challenged in a legal aspect that he cannot logically defend. In his mannerisms, Sheldon also shows symptoms associated with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, as is suggested within the show itself by Amy in regard to how, whenever approaching the door of an occupied room—save the bathroom—he must knock three times, then say the person's name, and must repeat this three times; this was revealed as a result of him walking in on his father with another woman when he was thirteen ("The first [knock] is traditional, but 'two' and 'three' are for people to get their pants on."). Upon entering a person's home, he must select the proper seat before sitting down. When it was suggested by Penny that he "just sit anywhere", his response is "Oh, no, if only it were that simple!" Because of his rigidity and stubbornness, only his mother and Bernadette, both possessing strong maternal personalities, have shown the ability to order him to do things.


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: Like his friends, Sheldon is fond of comic books (mostly from the DC Universe), costumes, video games (he also mentions his ownership of various vintage games and systems), roleplaying games, tabletop games, collectible card games, and action figures. Sheldon has restraining orders from his heroes Leonard Nimoy, Carl Sagan, and Stan Lee, as well as television scientist Bill Nye. Sheldon often wears vintage T-shirts adorned with superhero logos. One of his shirts is emblazoned with the number 73, and in the episode "The Alien Parasite Hypothesis" he explains that 73 is his favourite number because it is the 21st prime number, its mirror, 37, is the 12th prime number and its mirror (21) is the product of multiplying 7 and 3, also in binary, 73 is 1001001, a palindrome. The boys use video games like bowling and archery for "exercise" and use the traditional sport rules.


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: Sheldon has sometimes shown empathy, including lending money to Penny without expecting it back quickly (although that may just have been his logical Spock-like response to a problem to be solved; it was, after all, money he was not using and would not miss) and driving her to a hospital when her shoulder was dislocated. In the season 6 episode "The Decoupling Fluctuation", Amy secretly tells him that Penny is considering breaking up with Leonard. Struggling to keep the secret from Leonard, Sheldon wakes up Penny in the middle of the night and asks her not to hurt his friend. In the Season 8 finale, he expresses his genuine happiness for Leonard and Penny when they decide to finally get married in Las Vegas (although his position was briefly reversed during the Season 9 premiere after he and Amy broke up). Since season 10, his empathy and caring attitude toward others have improved to the extent that he goes out of his way to pamper his fiancée Amy. Sheldon admits he is overly fond of koala bears munching on eucalyptus so much that he has a facial expression that he refers to as his koala face. He dislikes gifts, because the "social convention" in his view creates either a debt or burden on the receiver of the gift which will not stop until one of the two involved in the "gift-relationship" dies leaving the other either in debt or with an undue surplus. Sheldon also does not take drugs, not even legal ones such as caffeine, due to a promise to his mother, and is hypersensitive when he accidentally consumes them. However, it has been shown that alcohol often causes Sheldon to loosen up significantly, although it will also cloud his judgment on occasion. After drinking alcoholic drinks (both deliberately and accidentally), he has done things that he would never do while sober, such as singing out loud, mooning an audience full of people, confronting Wil Wheaton, leaving wildly inappropriate voicemails after "drunk dialling" Stephen Hawking, and affectionately slapping Amy's rear. After consuming caffeine in the form of coffee or energy drinks, typically on the rare occasions that he has to work beyond his normal working hours to meet a deadline, he acts in a hyperactive, erratic manner.


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: In response to criticism from his friends that he is mentally ill, Sheldon often retorts, "I'm not crazy; my mother had me tested"; which his mother has confirmed to be true, once while wishing she had gone through with a follow-up examination.


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: Sheldon contrasts strongly with his family, who are neither scientists nor intellectuals. His father George died before the start of "The Big Bang Theory", when Sheldon was 14, while his mother Mary is a devout born-again Christian and loving parent. Sheldon has two siblings: a twin sister, Missy, who is a tall, attractive brunette as an adult; and an older brother, George Jr., who owns a tire store chain headquartered in Dallas called Dr. Tire. The adult Sheldon has stated that both Missy and George Jr. beat up Sheldon during their childhoods, and their mother describes them to be "dumb as soup". In the pilot episode of "The Big Bang Theory", Sheldon tells Leonard that DNA is not a guarantee of an intelligent offspring as he himself is a theoretical physicist and his twin sister is a hostess at Fuddruckers. Sheldon is very fond of his maternal grandmother, whom he calls "Meemaw" and who calls him "Moon Pie". He called his grandfather, who died when Sheldon was five, "Pop Pop". Sheldon was also very close to his grandfather, stating once that his grandfather is the only relative he had who encouraged him to become involved in science.


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: Sheldon has a maternal uncle, Edward, who is called "Stumpy" as the result of a time when he cleaned a wood chipper by hand. He also has a maternal aunt, Charlene, which was revealed in "Young Sheldon" when his mother told Meemaw that she made dinner for "Charlene and Edward" more times than her. Sheldon had another uncle, Carl Cooper, who was killed by a badger while cleaning a chimney and another uncle that may have done things to children that were legal in Oklahoma per "The Clean Room Infiltration".


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: In "The Engagement Reaction", Sheldon mentions that his aunt Ruth died a week after being infected by a pathogen she contracted in the hospital where she visited Sheldon's uncle Roger, and that their ashes are now stored in a coffee can on Sheldon's mother's mantle. "Young Sheldon" confirms that Ruth is George's sister, and that she and Roger are still alive by 1990.


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: In the "Young Sheldon" episode "Vanilla Ice Cream, Gentleman Callers, and a Dinette Set", it is revealed that Sheldon has children in the future, but this is never referenced or confirmed in "The Big Bang Theory". In the "Young Sheldon" episode "Graduation" (season 4 episode 1), Sheldon mentions his son, Leonard Cooper. He says that he wanted to name him Leonard Nimoy Cooper, but his wife Amy objected. In "The Big Bang Theory", Sheldon did express an interest in having children with Amy, albeit an unfeasibly large number in order to serve as subjects for social or behavioural experiments.


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: Sheldon's closest friends are Leonard Hofstadter, Howard Wolowitz, and Raj Koothrappali. Of the three, Sheldon is openly dismissive of Howard and constantly opines that a master's degree in engineering demonstrates a lesser intellect than that of the others, who all possess science doctorates. Despite that, Sheldon has referred to Howard as a "treasured acquaintance" and later his friend at various points. Sheldon constantly belittles Leonard and dismisses his work, yet at the same time considers Leonard his best friend, as they used to live together and can tolerate each other: in "The Space Probe Disintegration", Sheldon admits to Leonard that he is aware of how difficult he can be, and tearfully expresses his gratitude for having Leonard in his life in spite of himself, causing Leonard to break down beside him. Prady stated that "the fact that, despite everything, Leonard considers Sheldon his best friend reminds us of Sheldon's essential humanity". Sheldon can only handle having a limited number of friends in his life at a time, but later shows flexibility when he accepts Bernadette and Amy as part of the social group. In season 6, the guys ask if comic book store owner Stuart can be part of the group while Howard is in space.


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: Despite Penny's neither being a scientist nor sharing many of the group's interests, and having constant fights with Sheldon in the early episodes, they become close friends. While some fans supported a romantic relationship between Sheldon and Penny, Lorre stated his opposition to it by saying: "We've stumbled into creating a character who has chosen a lifestyle for himself that is unique. And I don't see any reason to modify it."


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: He once idolized fictional prodigy Wesley Crusher from "", portrayed by Wil Wheaton, until Wheaton did not show up at a convention attended by Sheldon in 1995. Sheldon had spent 15 hours on a bus travelling to the convention during which time he was forced to break his rule about urinating in a moving vehicle. After this moment Wil Wheaton became number six on Sheldon's mortal enemy list (a list he started when he was 9 on a 5¼-inch floppy disk). Wheaton was one of Sheldon's mortal enemies, along with his coworkers Barry Kripke and Leslie Winkle. Later, Wheaton managed to patch things up with Sheldon, only to inadvertently pass the enemy list spot to Brent Spiner, who removed the packaging from a signed Wesley Crusher action figure presented to Sheldon as a gift. Sheldon would later resume his enmity with Wheaton in season 11's "The Proton Regeneration" when they compete for the lead role in an Internet reboot of Sheldon's childhood favorite science TV series, "Professor Proton", with Wheaton getting the part; however, when he sees how well Wheaton plays the role and on the advice of Howard, he apologizes to him.


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: It has been speculated that Sheldon may be asexual or aromantic. Series co-creator Chuck Lorre said: "Part of what's wonderful and unique about [Sheldon] is he has chosen not to play in the relationship game either way  – heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, any sexuality." This is referenced in "The Cooper-Nowitzki Theorem", when Sheldon unknowingly attracts the attention of grad student Ramona Nowitzki, and Penny, seeing this, asks his friends what his "deal" (i.e., sexual orientation) is, to which Leonard responds, "Honestly, we've been operating under the assumption that he has no 'deal'"; whilst Leonard speculated that Sheldon was in his larval stage and would one day form a chrysalis, Howard believed that Sheldon would reproduce via mitosis after eating too much Thai food.


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: In the season 3 finale, Howard and Raj blackmail Sheldon into meeting Amy Farrah Fowler, with whom they matched him on a dating website. After some obnoxious comments about the dating website, Sheldon finds that Amy agrees with him, and he grows fond of her when she says that "Any or all physical contact up to and including coitus are off the table". Their relationship continues in season 4, although Sheldon often points out that they are not in a romantic relationship (stating that she "is a girl who is a friend, but is not my girlfriend"). The two enjoy intellectual games they create, and Amy and Sheldon openly express the same type of intellectual superiority.


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: In season 5, when Leonard inadvertently implies that he and Amy may have had sex after a wedding reception that they both attended, Sheldon unexpectedly reacts violently, karate-chopping Leonard's neck while telling Leonard "She is not for you... not for you!" Later, Sheldon formally asks Amy to be his girlfriend in "The Flaming Spittoon Acquisition". During their relationship, Amy begins a campaign to give Sheldon more attention to increase his feelings for her by embracing his interests. As they watch Howard being launched into space in its season finale, Amy is surprised when Sheldon takes her hand for emotional support.


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: During the first half of season 6, in "The Parking Spot Escalation" and "The Fish Guts Displacement", Sheldon is pushed further after seeing Amy partially exposed and taking care of her while she is ill respectively. In "The Cooper/Kripke Inversion", after being directly asked by Penny if he would ever have sex with Amy, Sheldon admits to Penny and Leonard that a physical relationship with Amy is a possibility, and being touched is something he is working on. While upset about Kripke, Amy does give him a consoling hug that Sheldon seems to need, and want. Even so, Amy has offered other romantic physical contact, and was very uncomfortable when they had to cuddle. In "The Spoiler Alert Segmentation", Leonard temporarily moves out and Amy proposes that she would be his perfect roommate and tries to move in, though Sheldon is uncomfortable with this change in their relationship. While playing "Dungeons & Dragons" during "The Love Spell Potential", Sheldon's and Amy's characters are commanded to have sex within the game. A very upset Amy asks Sheldon if they are ever going to be intimate and he again admits that it is a possibility.


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: In season 7, Sheldon passionately kisses Amy on the lips for the first time. Initially to prove a point, he later prolonged it, implying he enjoyed the feeling. Later episodes showed him willingly kissing Amy, implying he has gotten more comfortable in such a position of physical intimacy. The ultimate proof of Sheldon having feelings for Amy is given in the season 8 episode "The Prom Equivalency", when he finally admits being in love with her: "I love you too. There's no denying I have feelings for you that can't be explained in any other way. I briefly considered I had a brain parasite, but that seems even more far-fetched. The only conclusion was love." In the season 8 finale, "The Commitment Determination", Sheldon and Amy get into a fight over their definition of "commitment". Sheldon feels his relationship with Amy is going fast on its own, but Amy argues he is taking things too slowly and does not properly bestow on her unlimited affection. By the episode's end she has decided to take a break from their relationship while Sheldon is left numb from Amy's revelation. He glumly reveals that he had been planning on proposing to Amy with his grandmother's ring - a family heirloom.


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: In the season 9 premiere, Sheldon keeps pushing Amy to make up her mind about their relationship, but goes too far and insults her to her face and she angrily breaks up with him for good, thus officially ending their relationship. In "The Perspiration Implementation", Barry Kripke learns that Amy is no longer in a relationship implies an interest in asking her out on a date. Sheldon is bothered by this notion and challenges Barry in a duel that will end three years hence. In "The Platonic Permutation" Amy offers Sheldon a chance to get back together with her after spending time together in an aquarium at Thanksgiving, but learns that he simply just wants to be her friend, with him revealing to her that "I excel at many things, but getting over you wasn't one of them". In "The Earworm Reverberation", Sheldon cannot get a song out his head, but after suddenly remembering the title and the lyrics, he realizes that the song was about Amy and that she changed his life for the better, which prompts him to go to her apartment to profess his love. He finds Amy on a date with Dave, who has a great adoration for Sheldon because of his intellect. Seeing how much they love each other, Dave gleefully urges Sheldon to kiss Amy, leading to their reunion. In the following episode, "The Opening Night Excitation" Leonard, Howard and Raj go to see "" without Sheldon as while he was initially reluctant, ultimately opted to celebrate Amy's birthday with her instead. To make Amy's birthday enjoyable and memorable, Sheldon seeks out Penny and Bernadette as he respects their opinions regarding all things socially appropriate. He reveals to them that he has narrowed things down to three options, the first being a chance to play the harp with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the second being an all-expense-paid trip to the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival (though Amy would have to go alone because Sheldon's ornithophobia is nothing compared to his fear of sheep), and the third being the two of them engaging in coitus, at which point Penny squeezes and shatters the wine glass in her hand due to disbelief and/or shock. After Penny and Bernadette convince him that finally being intimate with her is the most beautiful gift that he could give to her, Sheldon and Amy have sex for the first time on the latter's birthday. Sheldon comments, "I enjoyed that a lot more than I thought I would".


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: In season 10, Sheldon and Amy move in together for a five-week experiment to test out their compatibility, and after its successful run, decide to move in together permanently. In "The Holiday Summation", Mary Cooper confesses to being accepting of Sheldon and Amy living together out of wedlock in the privately held belief that Sheldon would never be in a relationship, which deeply offends him. In the tenth-season finale, Sheldon unexpectedly proposes to Amy after being kissed by Ramona Nowitzki. In the eleventh-season premiere, Amy accepts his proposal, and they marry in the season finale. Late in season 12, Amy is preparing Sheldon to accept the prospect of having children by getting him to have fun experimenting with the Wolowitz children. In the series finale, both Sheldon and Amy are recipients of the Nobel Prize in physics for their discovery of super asymmetry which they first worked on moments before their wedding. In Amy's speech, she encourages young girls around the world to study whatever they want. Instead of giving a self-centered speech, Sheldon thanks his family, his friends and his wife Amy for always supporting him. He also refers to Howard as "Astronaut Howard Wolowitz," exhibiting, for the first time, some level of pride in having a friend who was an astronaut. He also admits that he agrees with what Leonard said in the Pilot episode, that Leonard and Penny's children will be "smart and beautiful".


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: At the end of season one of "Young Sheldon", the adult Sheldon refers in voice over to having had children: in season 4, it is revealed that one of them is a son named Leonard, and banter between the adult Sheldon and Amy implies that their son was meant to be named after both Leonard Hofstadter and Leonard Nimoy.


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: Both the character and Parsons' portrayal have received widespread acclaim, and is often cited as the main reason for the program's success by both critics and fans. James Chamberlin of IGN wrote: "It's hard to imagine what "The Big Bang Theory" would be if it weren't for Jim Parsons' great portrayal of Sheldon Cooper". Matt Roush of "TV Guide" stated that "there's a spark of divine inspiration in Jim Parsons' uproarious Sheldon Cooper". Ken Tucker of "Entertainment Weekly" wrote that: "Parsons is doing something rare on network TV: making intellectualism admirable, even heroic".


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: On July 16, 2009, Parsons was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. He was nominated again for the same award on July 8, 2010, and won the award on August 29, 2010. On August 1, 2009, he won the TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy, with the show itself winning the award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy for season 2. He was nominated again for the same award in 2010 and 2012. Parsons was also nominated for the People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Comedy Actor and a Satellite Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy in 2009, 2010, and 2012. On January 16, 2011, Parsons won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy, presented by co-star Kaley Cuoco, for his work on seasons 3 and 4. On June 20, 2011, he won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series at the 1st Critics' Choice Television Awards for his work on season 4, and was nominated again for the same award in 2012. On September 18, 2011, he won his second consecutive Primetime Emmy Award – Lead Actor in Comedy, and was nominated again for the same award on July 19, 2012. In 2013, Parsons was nominated once again for the Golden Globe and received his first nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series. In 2013 and 2014, Parsons was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award – Lead Actor in Comedy for the 5th and 6th time, respectively, both of which he won for his 3rd and 4th Primetime Emmy Awards – Lead Actor in a Comedy Series meaning that Parsons had won this award four times in the past five years, including back-to-back in 2010/2011 and 2013/2014. No actor in the history of this award has won back-to-back awards on two separate occasions, and his total of four awards puts Parsons in a four-way tie with Carroll O'Connor, Kelsey Grammer, and Michael J. Fox.


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: The asteroid was named after Sheldon. In 2012, a newly discovered species of bee was named "Euglossa bazinga", after the character's noted catch phrase, "Bazinga!"


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: In March 2013, the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium named a black-and-white colobus after Sheldon. In 2015, a new echinocaridid phyllocaridan from the Lower Devonian of central-eastern Poland, was named "Ptychocaris sheldoni" after Sheldon.


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: Some viewers have asserted that Sheldon's behavior is consistent with the classification of the autism spectrum that used to be known as Asperger's syndrome. The writers have stated that they did not use it as a basis for the character, but instead thought of his actions as "Sheldony". Series co-creator Bill Prady stated: "We write the character as the character. A lot of people see various things in him and make the connections. Our feeling is that Sheldon's mother never got a diagnosis, so we don't have one." Prady also told Alan Sepinwall of the New Jersey "Star-Ledger" that while Sheldon shares traits with people with Asperger's syndrome, he was uncomfortable labeling Sheldon as such.


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: In an interview, Jim Parsons noted the writers' response, but added that, in his opinion, Sheldon "couldn't display "more" traits" of Asperger's. Parsons has read John Elder Robison's memoir "Look Me in the Eye" about his life with Asperger syndrome, and said that: "A majority of what I read in that book touched on aspects of Sheldon." He also stated that "the way his brain works, it's so focused on the intellectual topics at hand that thinking he's autistic is an easy leap for people watching the show to make".


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: When another actor on the series, Mayim Bialik, who plays Amy and has a Ph.D. in Neuroscience, was interviewed by Neil deGrasse Tyson on "StarTalk", she said of the theory:


title: Sheldon Cooper

text: All of our characters are in theory on the neuropsychiatric spectrum, I would say. Sheldon often gets talked about in terms of Asperger's or OCD. He has a thing with germs, he has a thing with numbers, he's got a lot of that precision that we see in OCD. There's a lot of interesting features to all of our characters that make them technically unconventional socially. And what we're trying to show with our show is that this is a group of people who likely were teased, mocked, told that they will never be appreciated or loved, and we have a group of people who have successful careers, active social lives (that involve things like "Dungeons and Dragons" and video games), but they also have relationships, and that's a fulfilling and satisfying life.


title: Testosterone

text: Testosterone is the primary sex hormone and anabolic steroid in males. In humans, testosterone plays a key role in the development of male reproductive tissues such as testes and prostate, as well as promoting secondary sexual characteristics such as increased muscle and bone mass, and the growth of body hair. In addition, testosterone in both sexes is involved in health and well-being, including moods, behaviour, and in the prevention of osteoporosis. Insufficient levels of testosterone in men may lead to abnormalities including frailty and bone loss.


title: Testosterone

text: Testosterone is a steroid from the androstane class containing a ketone and a hydroxyl group at positions three and seventeen respectively. It is biosynthesized in several steps from cholesterol and is converted in the liver to inactive metabolites. It exerts its action through binding to and activation of the androgen receptor. In humans and most other vertebrates, testosterone is secreted primarily by the testicles of males (see Biosynthesis) and, to a lesser extent, the ovaries of females. On average, in adult males, levels of testosterone are about seven to eight times as great as in adult females. As the metabolism of testosterone in males is more pronounced, the daily production is about 20 times greater in men. Females are also more sensitive to the hormone.


title: Testosterone

text: In addition to its role as a natural hormone, testosterone is used as a medication in the treatment of hypogonadism in men and breast cancer in women. Since testosterone levels decrease as men age, testosterone is sometimes used in older men to counteract this deficiency. It is also used illicitly to enhance physique and performance, for instance in athletes. The World Anti-Doping Agency is listing it as S1 Anabolic agent substance "prohibited at all times".


title: Testosterone

text: In general, androgens such as testosterone promote protein synthesis and thus growth of tissues with androgen receptors. Testosterone can be described as having virilising and anabolic effects (though these categorical descriptions are somewhat arbitrary, as there is a great deal of mutual overlap between them).


title: Testosterone

text: Testosterone effects can also be classified by the age of usual occurrence. For postnatal effects in both males and females, these are mostly dependent on the levels and duration of circulating free testosterone.


title: Testosterone

text: Effects before birth are divided into two categories, classified in relation to the stages of development.


title: Testosterone

text: The first period occurs between 4 and 6 weeks of the gestation. Examples include genital virilisation such as midline fusion, phallic urethra, scrotal thinning and rugation, and phallic enlargement; although the role of testosterone is far smaller than that of dihydrotestosterone. There is also development of the prostate gland and seminal vesicles.


title: Testosterone

text: During the second trimester, androgen level is associated with sex formation. Specifically, testosterone, along with anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) promote growth of the Wolffian duct and degeneration of the Müllerian duct respectively. This period affects the femininization or masculinization of the fetus and can be a better predictor of feminine or masculine behaviours such as sex typed behaviour than an adult's own levels. Prenatal androgens apparently influence interests and engagement in gendered activities and have moderate effects on spatial abilities. Among women with CAH, a male-typical play in childhood correlated with reduced satisfaction with the female gender and reduced heterosexual interest in adulthood.


title: Testosterone

text: Early infancy androgen effects are the least understood. In the first weeks of life for male infants, testosterone levels rise. The levels remain in a pubertal range for a few months, but usually reach the barely detectable levels of childhood by 4–7 months of age. The function of this rise in humans is unknown. It has been theorized that brain masculinization is occurring since no significant changes have been identified in other parts of the body. The male brain is masculinized by the aromatization of testosterone into estrogen, which crosses the blood–brain barrier and enters the male brain, whereas female fetuses have α-fetoprotein, which binds the estrogen so that female brains are not affected.


title: Testosterone

text: Before puberty, effects of rising androgen levels occur in both boys and girls. These include adult-type body odor, increased oiliness of skin and hair, acne, pubarche (appearance of pubic hair), axillary hair (armpit hair), growth spurt, accelerated bone maturation, and facial hair.


title: Testosterone

text: Pubertal effects begin to occur when androgen has been higher than normal adult female levels for months or years. In males, these are usual late pubertal effects, and occur in women after prolonged periods of heightened levels of free testosterone in the blood. The effects include:


title: Testosterone

text: Testosterone is necessary for normal sperm development. It activates genes in Sertoli cells, which promote differentiation of spermatogonia. It regulates acute HPA (hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis) response under dominance challenge. Androgens including testosterone enhance muscle growth. Testosterone also regulates the population of thromboxane A receptors on megakaryocytes and platelets and hence platelet aggregation in humans.


title: Testosterone

text: Adult testosterone effects are more clearly demonstrable in males than in females, but are likely important to both sexes. Some of these effects may decline as testosterone levels might decrease in the later decades of adult life.


title: Testosterone

text: Testosterone does not appear to increase the risk of developing prostate cancer. In people who have undergone testosterone deprivation therapy, testosterone increases beyond the castrate level have been shown to increase the rate of spread of an existing prostate cancer.


title: Testosterone

text: Conflicting results have been obtained concerning the importance of testosterone in maintaining cardiovascular health. Nevertheless, maintaining normal testosterone levels in elderly men has been shown to improve many parameters that are thought to reduce cardiovascular disease risk, such as increased lean body mass, decreased visceral fat mass, decreased total cholesterol, and glycemic control.


title: Testosterone

text: High androgen levels are associated with menstrual cycle irregularities in both clinical populations and healthy women.


title: Testosterone

text: Testosterone levels follow a nycthemeral rhythm that peaks early each day, regardless of sexual activity.


title: Testosterone

text: There are positive correlations between positive orgasm experience in women and testosterone levels where relaxation was a key perception of the experience. There is no correlation between testosterone and men's perceptions of their orgasm experience, and also no correlation between higher testosterone levels and greater sexual assertiveness in either sex.


title: Testosterone

text: Sexual arousal and masturbation in women produce small increases in testosterone concentrations. The plasma levels of various steroids significantly increase after masturbation in men and the testosterone levels correlate to those levels.


title: Testosterone

text: Studies conducted in rats have indicated that their degree of sexual arousal is sensitive to reductions in testosterone. When testosterone-deprived rats were given medium levels of testosterone, their sexual behaviours (copulation, partner preference, etc.) resumed, but not when given low amounts of the same hormone. Therefore, these mammals may provide a model for studying clinical populations among humans with sexual arousal deficits such as hypoactive sexual desire disorder.


title: Testosterone

text: Every mammalian species examined demonstrated a marked increase in a male's testosterone level upon encountering a "novel" female. The reflexive testosterone increases in male mice is related to the male's initial level of sexual arousal.


title: Testosterone

text: In non-human primates, it may be that testosterone in puberty stimulates sexual arousal, which allows the primate to increasingly seek out sexual experiences with females and thus creates a sexual preference for females. Some research has also indicated that if testosterone is eliminated in an adult male human or other adult male primate's system, its sexual motivation decreases, but there is no corresponding decrease in ability to engage in sexual activity (mounting, ejaculating, etc.).


title: Testosterone

text: In accordance with sperm competition theory, testosterone levels are shown to increase as a response to previously neutral stimuli when conditioned to become sexual in male rats. This reaction engages penile reflexes (such as erection and ejaculation) that aid in sperm competition when more than one male is present in mating encounters, allowing for more production of successful sperm and a higher chance of reproduction.


title: Testosterone

text: Men who watch a sexually explicit movie have an average increase of 35% in testosterone, peaking at 60–90 minutes after the end of the film, but no increase is seen in men who watch sexually neutral films. Men who watch sexually explicit films also report increased motivation, competitiveness, and decreased exhaustion. A link has also been found between relaxation following sexual arousal and testosterone levels.


title: Testosterone

text: Men's levels of testosterone change depending on whether they are exposed to an ovulating or nonovulating woman's body odour. Men who are exposed to scents of ovulating women maintained a stable testosterone level that was higher than the testosterone level of men exposed to nonovulation cues. Men are heavily aware of hormone cycles in females. This may be linked to the "ovulatory shift hypothesis", where males are adapted to respond to the ovulation cycles of females by sensing when they are most fertile and whereby females look for preferred male mates when they are the most fertile; both actions may be driven by hormones.


title: Testosterone

text: Androgens may modulate the physiology of vaginal tissue and contribute to female genital sexual arousal. Women's level of testosterone is higher when measured pre-intercourse vs pre-cuddling, as well as post-intercourse vs post-cuddling. There is a time lag effect when testosterone is administered, on genital arousal in women. In addition, a continuous increase in vaginal sexual arousal may result in higher genital sensations and sexual appetitive behaviors.


title: Testosterone

text: When females have a higher baseline level of testosterone, they have higher increases in sexual arousal levels but smaller increases in testosterone, indicating a ceiling effect on testosterone levels in females. Sexual thoughts also change the level of testosterone but not the level of cortisol in the female body, and hormonal contraceptives may affect the variation in testosterone response to sexual thoughts.


title: Testosterone

text: Testosterone may prove to be an effective treatment in female sexual arousal disorders, and is available as a dermal patch. There is no FDA-approved androgen preparation for the treatment of androgen insufficiency; however, it has been used as an off-label use to treat low libido and sexual dysfunction in older women. Testosterone may be a treatment for postmenopausal women as long as they are effectively estrogenized.


title: Testosterone

text: Falling in love has been linked with decreases in men's testosterone levels while mixed changes are reported for women's testosterone levels.


title: Testosterone

text: There has been speculation that these changes in testosterone result in the temporary reduction of differences in behavior between the sexes. However, the testosterone changes observed do not seem to be maintained as relationships develop over time.


title: Testosterone

text: Men who produce less testosterone are more likely to be in a relationship or married, and men who produce more testosterone are more likely to divorce. Marriage or commitment could cause a decrease in testosterone levels. Single men who have not had relationship experience have lower testosterone levels than single men with experience. It is suggested that these single men with prior experience are in a more competitive state than their non-experienced counterparts. Married men who engage in bond-maintenance activities such as spending the day with their spouse and/or child have no different testosterone levels compared to times when they do not engage in such activities. Collectively, these results suggest that the presence of competitive activities rather than bond-maintenance activities are more relevant to changes in testosterone levels.


title: Testosterone

text: Men who produce more testosterone are more likely to engage in extramarital sex. Testosterone levels do not rely on physical presence of a partner; testosterone levels of men engaging in same-city and long-distance relationships are similar. Physical presence may be required for women who are in relationships for the testosterone–partner interaction, where same-city partnered women have lower testosterone levels than long-distance partnered women.


title: Testosterone

text: Fatherhood decreases testosterone levels in men, suggesting that the emotions and behaviour tied to decreased testosterone promote paternal care. In humans and other species that utilize allomaternal care, paternal investment in offspring is beneficial to said offspring's survival because it allows the two parents to raise multiple children simultaneously. This increases the reproductive fitness of the parents because their offspring are more likely to survive and reproduce. Paternal care increases offspring survival due to increased access to higher quality food and reduced physical and immunological threats. This is particularly beneficial for humans since offspring are dependent on parents for extended periods of time and mothers have relatively short inter-birth intervals.


title: Testosterone

text: While the extent of paternal care varies between cultures, higher investment in direct child care has been seen to be correlated with lower average testosterone levels as well as temporary fluctuations. For instance, fluctuation in testosterone levels when a child is in distress has been found to be indicative of fathering styles. If a father's testosterone levels decrease in response to hearing their baby cry, it is an indication of empathizing with the baby. This is associated with increased nurturing behavior and better outcomes for the infant.


title: Testosterone

text: Most studies support a link between adult criminality and testosterone. Nearly all studies of juvenile delinquency and testosterone are not significant. Most studies have also found testosterone to be associated with behaviors or personality traits linked with criminality such as antisocial behavior and alcoholism. Many studies have also been done on the relationship between more general aggressive behavior and feelings and testosterone. About half the studies have found a relationship and about half no relationship. Studies have also found that testosterone facilitates aggression by modulating vasopressin receptors in the hypothalamus.


title: Testosterone

text: There are two theories on the role of testosterone in aggression and competition. The first one is the challenge hypothesis which states that testosterone would increase during puberty, thus facilitating reproductive and competitive behavior which would include aggression. It is therefore the challenge of competition among males of the species that facilitates aggression and violence. Studies conducted have found direct correlation between testosterone and dominance, especially among the most violent criminals in prison who had the highest testosterone levels. The same research also found fathers (those outside competitive environments) had the lowest testosterone levels compared to other males.


title: Testosterone

text: The second theory is similar and is known as "evolutionary neuroandrogenic (ENA) theory of male aggression". Testosterone and other androgens have evolved to masculinize a brain in order to be competitive even to the point of risking harm to the person and others. By doing so, individuals with masculinized brains as a result of pre-natal and adult life testosterone and androgens enhance their resource acquiring abilities in order to survive, attract and copulate with mates as much as possible. The masculinization of the brain is not just mediated by testosterone levels at the adult stage, but also testosterone exposure in the womb as a fetus. Higher pre-natal testosterone indicated by a low digit ratio as well as adult testosterone levels increased risk of fouls or aggression among male players in a soccer game. Studies have also found higher pre-natal testosterone or lower digit ratio to be correlated with higher aggression in males.


title: Testosterone

text: The rise in testosterone levels during competition predicted aggression in males but not in females. Subjects who interacted with hand guns and an experimental game showed rise in testosterone and aggression. Natural selection might have evolved males to be more sensitive to competitive and status challenge situations and that the interacting roles of testosterone are the essential ingredient for aggressive behaviour in these situations. Testosterone mediates attraction to cruel and violent cues in men by promoting extended viewing of violent stimuli. Testosterone-specific structural brain characteristic can predict aggressive behaviour in individuals.


title: Testosterone

text: Testosterone might encourage fair behavior. For one study, subjects took part in a behavioral experiment where the distribution of a real amount of money was decided. The rules allowed both fair and unfair offers. The negotiating partner could subsequently accept or decline the offer. The fairer the offer, the less probable a refusal by the negotiating partner. If no agreement was reached, neither party earned anything. Test subjects with an artificially enhanced testosterone level generally made better, fairer offers than those who received placebos, thus reducing the risk of a rejection of their offer to a minimum. Two later studies have empirically confirmed these results. However men with high testosterone were significantly 27% less generous in an ultimatum game. The Annual NY Academy of Sciences has also found anabolic steroid use (which increases testosterone) to be higher in teenagers, and this was associated with increased violence. Studies have also found administered testosterone to increase verbal aggression and anger in some participants.


title: Testosterone

text: A few studies indicate that the testosterone derivative estradiol (one form of estrogen) might play an important role in male aggression. Estradiol is known to correlate with aggression in male mice. Moreover, the conversion of testosterone to estradiol regulates male aggression in sparrows during breeding season. Rats who were given anabolic steroids that increase testosterone were also more physically aggressive to provocation as a result of "threat sensitivity".


title: Testosterone

text: The relationship between testosterone and aggression may also function indirectly, as it has been proposed that testosterone does not amplify tendencies towards aggression but rather amplifies whatever tendencies will allow an individual to maintain social status when challenged. In most animals, aggression is the means of maintaining social status. However, humans have multiple ways of obtaining social status. This could explain why some studies find a link between testosterone and pro-social behaviour if pro-social behaviour is rewarded with social status. Thus the link between testosterone and aggression and violence is due to these being rewarded with social status. The relationship may also be one of a "permissive effect" whereby testosterone does elevate aggression levels but only in the sense of allowing average aggression levels to be maintained; chemically or physically castrating the individual will reduce aggression levels (though it will not eliminate them) but the individual only needs a small-level of pre-castration testosterone to have aggression levels to return to normal, which they will remain at even if additional testosterone is added. Testosterone may also simply exaggerate or amplify existing aggression; for example, chimpanzees who receive testosterone increases become more aggressive to chimps lower than them in the social hierarchy but will still be submissive to chimps higher than them. Testosterone thus does not make the chimpanzee indiscriminately aggressive but instead amplifies his pre-existing aggression towards lower-ranked chimps.


title: Testosterone

text: In humans, testosterone appears more to promote status-seeking and social dominance than simply increasing physical aggression. When controlling for the effects of belief in having received testosterone, women who have received testosterone make fairer offers than women who have not received testosterone.


title: Testosterone

text: The brain is also affected by this sexual differentiation; the enzyme aromatase converts testosterone into estradiol that is responsible for masculinization of the brain in male mice. In humans, masculinization of the fetal brain appears, by observation of gender preference in patients with congenital diseases of androgen formation or androgen receptor function, to be associated with functional androgen receptors.


title: Testosterone

text: There are some differences between a male and female brain (possibly the result of different testosterone levels), one of them being size: the male human brain is, on average, larger. Men were found to have a total myelinated fiber length of 176 000 km at the age of 20, whereas in women the total length was 149 000 km (approx. 15% less).


title: Testosterone

text: No immediate short term effects on mood or behavior were found from the administration of supraphysiologic doses of testosterone for 10 weeks on 43 healthy men. A correlation between testosterone and risk tolerance in career choice exists among women.