Larry Fleinhardt
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Larry Fleinhardt is a fictional character in the television show NUMB3RS, played by Peter MacNicol.
He is a professor at CalSci and best friend and colleague of Charlie Eppes. A brilliant theoretical physicist and cosmologist, Dr. Fleinhardt researches string theory (particularly, string-theoretic black holes), his 11-dimensional supergravity theory, and gravitational waves, using LIGO to check predictions on quantum corrections. He may have even found a way to express Calabi-Yau manifolds in a way that goes beyond a non-vanishing harmonic spinor. Larry constantly challenges Charlie to employ a broader point of view to his work with the FBI and often assists him with this work, as when his cosmic listening project helped him with his signal analysis. However, Professor Fleinhardt wishes his pal Eppes would continue with academia rather than consult with the FBI. Along with Alan Eppes, Larry provides words of wisdom to Charlie, reminding him that human behavior is unpredictable. He even comforts Don Eppes about his love life with his perspective on quantum entanglement, yet Charlie has accused him of "mixing cosmic metaphors" after he inadvertently referred to his relationship with Amita Ramanujan as a black hole.
Dr. Fleinhardt has been teaching for 20 years, and Charlie has even attended his classes. He is quite awkward in social situations; his students have described him as "boring and intellectually inaccessible." Some of his irregular views have made Charlie wonder "What kind of crazy Kool-Aid do they make you drink before you join the physics department?" Usually, Larry seems relaxed, but at times he can be a bit neurotic, or "Fleinhardt." An absent-minded professor, he has occasionally forgotten whether he was entering or leaving the CalSci library. The "Doc" even had his own Eureka moment in "All's Fair," wherein he applied fluid mechanics to the analysis of footprint slabs he submerged in a jacuzzi only to determine, from the relative displacement of water by each indentation, that the suspect to a murder had a short right leg — a discovery that discounted a particular individual from guilt — and ran to the streets dripping wet in a robe, screaming that it was Archimedes all over again, only to forget where he put his clothes the next minute. Larry is disorganized like Charlie and claims that there is symmetry to his chaos. On a similar note, his antics have led him to eat purely white food at times to maintain supersymmetry, a focus in his research. Apparently, as mentioned in "Backscatter," Fleinhardt is awful when it comes to geography — he called to ask if the string theory convention he was already at was in St. Louis or Cleveland, when it was actually in Minneapolis.
Fleinhardt had an addiction with card counting in his youth, which he feels ashamed about and has compared his discomfort during field research at a casino as being at the event horizon of a black hole. He has a distaste for number theory, but enjoys hiking, and is beginning to wonder about his life choices, missed (romantic) opportunities, and the impact of children (or wormholes in Larry's view) on people's lives. Larry has noted how demanding physics can be on his social life (that is nigh-nonexistent as a result of his work) and, along with Charlie, understands Einstein's feelings that one can either do physics or have a family, but not both. Meanwhile, he has realized his affections for Megan, and describes to his confused friends, the Eppes family, that they are closer to understanding the mystery of gamma ray bursts than his feelings in this matter. When he found out she was kidnapped in "Two Daughters," his emotions overcame him. The only thing he remembers of his mother is her warm smile and tweezed eyebrows.
Larry frequently wears casual patterned shirts and drove a 1944 Volvo until he acquired a 1931 black Model A Ford that he cherishes. Fleinhardt owned a personally restored 1877 Victorian home which he sold in "Bones of Contention", and has since been living as somewhat of a vagabond, finding shelter in his office, his car, hotels, and friends' places. Alan has commented on his current state during one of their chess games, providing the same advice he has dispensed to all geniuses he knows: "Don't be an idiot." Contrarily, Megan finds his situation oddly attractive. Both he and Charlie are members of the North American Sundial Society, and they have worked together on various contests for the physics department, including a paper airplane contest.
Notes
- Like Charlie, Larry is a genius and possibly the most advanced intellect in L.A. as Alan has remarked.
- Larry hopes to win a Noble Prize for his multi-dimensional supergravity theory.
- Larry knew Richard Feynman.
- Fleinhardt doesn't have a cell phone, considering them to be "electronic leashes," and his number is not listed.
