In the CBS television series Numb3rs, science is getting a better rap than the usual “mad scientist” so often portrayed on screen. Television shows such as CSI and movies such as A Beautiful Mind have been about scientists, but Numb3rs is unusual in the steps the producers have taken to make sure the science is right.
The series, about a mathematician who helps his FBI-agent brother solve crimes, has proven to be an unexpected hit. Produced by the husband-wife team Nick Falacci and Cheryl Heuton, Numb3rs has just started a 24-episode second season after first being broadcast as a 13-episode mid-season replacement earlier this year.
Falacci and Heuton, both avid readers of popular science books, had been trying to do a series on scientists for years. “Mathematicians and physicists have such an interesting way of looking at the world, and we wanted to deal with that in a narrative...
