text:  Actually, he's a genius. That doesn't answer my question. Newhart ended his epic career by playing Professor Proton on two CBS sitcoms, Young Sheldon and The Big Bang Theory. If you would have told me when I was a kid that someday I would be doing science next to Professor Proton, I would not have believed you. If someone had told me that people would still call me Professor Proton when I was 83 years old, I never would have quit smoking.