Plot

Sheldon seeks payback when Arthur "Professor Proton" Jeffries asks Leonard for help on a project instead of him. Raj gets upset at Howard for crashing his night with the girls.

Leonard, Sheldon and Amy run into Leonard and Sheldon's childhood hero Arthur Jeffries, aka Professor Proton, the scientist host of their favorite childhood television program. Because of this re-acquaintance, Arthur, who always wanted to be a true scientist as opposed to a kid's show host, asks Leonard to read and review a paper he is writing, but he doesn't ask Sheldon, which Sheldon can't understand. With some innuendo from Amy, Sheldon finally realizes that it's because he annoys Arthur. Sheldon tries unsuccessfully to make amends with Arthur so that he can collaborate on the paper. Without the friendship of his childhood hero, Sheldon decides to get a replacement model. Arthur makes Leonard truly examine his friendship with Sheldon, and in turn Leonard ends up getting Arthur to see Sheldon in a slightly different light. Meanwhile, Raj has been invited to girls' night with Penny, Amy and Bernadette. Raj's night with the girls ends up being taken over by an unexpected fifth.—Huggo

Sheldon is happily running around the drug store. Amy remarks that she has never seen him so happy. Sheldon sees Professor Proton (Bob Newhart) in the pharmacy line. Sheldon reintroduces himself since he doesn't think that he'll remember him due to his advanced age. Professor Proton reluctantly admits that he does remember him. Sheldon then introduces his girlfriend, Amy. Leonard reintroduces himself. He does remember HIS girlfriend, Penny.

At the Caltech cafeteria, Howard is talking about the girls' night that Bernadette is having at their place. Raj reluctantly admits that he is going even though they are making jewelry which was his idea. Leonard then gets an email from Professor Proton. He is working on a research paper about Nano-vacuum tubes and he wants Leonard to read it. Sheldon figures that the Professor should be asking him. He does have two emails from the Professor asking for Leonard's email address.

Sheldon tells Amy that he is angry with Arthur for not wanting him to read his paper. Amy then asks Sheldon why he thinks that Arthur didn't want him to read his paper. Amy suggests that he found Sheldon too much of an intellectual. Sheldon demonstrates that he has already mastered the three basic social skills. The coy smile, friendly chuckle, and the vocalization of sympathy, "Ahhhh." Amy tries to suggest that Leonard and Arthur may have found him...Annoying, but she can't say it. Sheldon knows she wants to say "annoying", and repetitively demands that Amy call him "annoying" - very annoyingly. Amy leaves without saying a word.

At Howard and Bernadette's Apartment, the jewelry making session is in full swing. Amy is going to feel like a vixen. Penny has glue all over her hands. Howard comes in and Raj tells him to go ahead and start with the girl jokes. Bernadette is making a necklace. Amy is making a bracelet. Penny is making a mess. Howard suggests that they use his soldering iron to make even cooler stuff. The girls want to try it out so Howard goes off to get his equipment while Penny finds a pistachio nut glued to her arm.

Sheldon goes over to Professor Proton's house and knocks on his front door. Sheldon woke him because it is 7:30 in the evening. Sheldon tells him that Amy pointed out that he might have been annoying. Arthur called Amy "a keeper". Sheldon also wants to talk about the paper he gave to Leonard who calls it "promising". Sheldon is ready to collaborate with him and that working with "Sheldon Cooper" will be a plus since others think that he is a washed-up has-been or dead. Arthur says that he would rather stick with Leonard. Sheldon concludes that it is because he is annoying and demands Proton to call him annoying as he had with Amy.

Leonard and Professor Proton are in Leonard's lab with Leonard telling him that if people had told him thirty years later he would be working on science with Professor Proton, he would not have believed them. Sheldon wanders into the lab and says he is also spending the day with another beloved children's science personality, Bill Nye, the Science Guy. Sheldon tells Arthur that he replaced him with a newer model. Bill Nye finds it an honor to meet Arthur Jeffries since his show was based on Professor Proton. Arthur snaps as him, implying that they have had a lawsuit concerning the originality of Bill Nye's science show. Sheldon then leaves. Nye expresses an interest in the Nano vacuum tube project. Arthur gets angry and says, "Haven't you stolen enough from me? Back off, Bow Tie!"

Amy, Raj and Penny are working on jewelry at Penny's place. Penny shows them some earrings, though she bought them at the Target store for $4.98. Bernadette shows up with Howard and his soldering equipment. He plans to put some pizzazz in "Jewelry Night". Raj didn't know that he was coming. Howard had had a blast last week so he showed up thinking that they might like to have a man show up. Howard brought silver, molds and a torch to melt the silver. Penny thinks that that looks like fun. Bernadette suggests that she master glue before she steps up to fire.

Leonard and Arthur continue to working and are about ready to test their equipment. Arthur asks why he puts up with Sheldon. Leonard replies that he is his friend. "Why?" Arthur asks. Leonard explains that Sheldon is aggravating, however; he is not doing it on purpose. Sheldon is loyal, trustworthy and they have a lot of fun together. Sheldon is the smartest person Leonard has ever met. He is a little broken, but Sheldon needs him and Leonard needs Sheldon.

In Apartment 4B, Howard is helping the girls with their handcrafted jewelry. He claims that he can take some of their hair, compress it into a small diamond using a hydraulic press at work and the diamond would contain their very own DNA code. Raj complains that Howard makes fun of him coming to girls' night and now he is ruining it for everyone. Howard asks Raj what is wrong. Raj tells him that he comes to girls' night so that he can open up about his feelings. Raj is more comfortable talking to the girls since they don't make fun of him and his feminine activities. Howard apologizes since he didn't know that his joking around hurt.

Later in Apartment 4A, Arthur Jeffries visits Sheldon. Sheldon is surprised that he was there. So was Arthur who started to see a bright white light about the third floor. Sheldon offers to get Leonard, however Arthur came to see Sheldon. Arthur asks him to look at his paper and Sheldon tells him that it would be an honor. Then Sheldon adds that he hacked into Arthur's email account and already read it. Arthur asks what he thinks. Sheldon starts with he thinks its pathetic using his birth date as a password. The paper, Sheldon feels, is inspired. Arthur thanks him.

Finally, to show friendship, Raj makes a belt buckle for Howard, which displays a transparent miniature of light saber that can be lit. And he then reveals he also made one for himself, and says they can have a "little sword fights" that have sexual overtones.

Back at Sheldon's apartment, Sheldon is now describing his eighth favorite episode of the Professor Proton series which was the Alka-Seltzer rocket. Arthur is not looking happy. Leonard again apologizes that Sheldon really can't help it. Arthur then asks if Penny has any single grandmothers. Penny does, however; they are married. He then wonders if they are happily married. Penny give him a noncommittal response.

Title reference: Dr. Jeffries approaching Leonard to read his paper over Sheldon, allowing Sheldon to become "friends" with Bill Nye.