Yeah Science, Bitch

About

“Yeah Science, Bitch” is an expression associated with the character Jesse Pinkman (played by Aaron Paul) from the television drama series Breaking Bad. On the web, the phrase is often used to humorously express one’s enthusiasm for new discoveries and practical applications of scientific knowledge.

Origin

Pinkman was originally quoted in Breaking Bad saying “Yeah science!” in Season 1 Episode 7 of Breaking Bad, which aired on March 9th, 2008. In the episode, the protagonist Walter White (played by Bryan Cranston) informs Pinkman he discovered an alternative method to cooking methamphetamine that does not require pseudo-ephedrine as an ingredient, to which Pinkman exclaims “Yeah Mr. White! Yeah science!” in excitement (shown below).

On July 28th, 2012, Redditor Pass-A-Fist submitted an image macro featuring a screen capture of Pinkman with the caption “Yeah / Science bitch” (shown below) to the /r/AdviceAnimals^[3] subreddit. Prior to being archived, the post received over 12,700 up votes and 230 comments.

Precursors

Image macros and animated GIFs celebrating science have circulated online prior to the airing of the Breaking Bad episode. On January 25th, 2006, the webcomic Xkcd^[10] published a comic titled “Science,” featuring a graph showing the relationship between energy density and frequency using the Planck’s Law equation followed by the caption “Science. It works, bitches” (shown below).

On October 17th, 2007, the WearScience^[9] online apparel store was launched, which sells various T-shirts with screen prints humorously honoring science (shown below).

Spread

On August 24th, 2012, Aaron Paul tweeted a link to a BuzzFeed^[1] post titled “35 Reasons Why Aaron Paul Should Be Your Favorite Actor On Television,” which mentioned Pinkman’s memorable quote at number five on the list (shown below). On August 29th, the “Yeah Bitch, Science!” Tumblr^[2] blog was launched, featuring notable stills and animated GIFs related to the television show. On December 27th, a Facebook^[4] page titled “Yeah Science BITCH” was created.

Yeah bitch!! Yeah science!! I mean that’s pretty much what this is right? Science? buzzfeed.com/daves4/reasons…
— Aaron Paul (@aaronpaul_8) August 24, 2012

On December 27th, a Facebook^[4] page titled “Yeah Science BITCH” was created. On February 9th, 2013, Redditor lol0star submitted a two-pane vertical image to the /r/funny^[5] subreddit, which featured a screen capture of a news report about the health benefits of looking at breasts followed by Redditor Pass-A-Fist’s reaction image of Pinkman. (shown below, left). Within three months, the post received over 17,000 up votes and 230 comments. On May 10th, Redditor Garret_N submitted a post titled “Yeah, science bitch” to the /r/funny^[7] subreddit, highlighting an illustrated poster with a joke about the visibility of the Great Wall of China from outer space (shown below, right). Within 72 hours, the post gained upwards of 13,300 up votes and 100 comments.