Robert Jernigan

Charges continue to swirl around Professor Robert Jernigan as investigators pore through a cache of FBI documents recently seized from Jernigan´s American University office. Jernigan is the alleged model for the lead character Dr. Charles Epps on CBS´s hit show Numb3rs.

Like Charlie Epps´ character, Jernigan has a brother, David, who is an FBI agent. The remaining parallels between Jernigan and the character of Epps are murky and continue to unfold. Through his lawyers, Jernigan has steadfastly asserted that he is nothing like the CBS character. Indeed, the Charlie Epps character is a young handsome mathematician with active hair follicles.

However, recently retired CBS news anchor Dan Rather has reportedly provided prosecutors with a 1981 memo showing that CBS test audiences consistently favored math professors with full heads of hair over follically-challenged statistics professors.

Most of the plots in the TV series have, in fact, revolved around statistical themes closely related to Professor Jernigan´s research.

Jernigan has pointed out that he, unlike the Epps character, has another brother, John, who is a retired golfer. Only recently has it been disclosed that the producers of Numb3rs intended that there be a third brother in the Epps family who was a golfer. Prosecutors are seeking a subpoena for the tapes of an alleged future episode of Numb3rs in which a golfer character, played by Roberto Benigni, is introduced.

From its inception, Numb3rs has been a source of controversy. American University professor Mary Gray has criticized the show for its portrayal of women in mathematics. Gray, a founder of the Association for Women in Mathematics, has objected to a female graduate student character on the show who clearly seems to worship her thesis adviser, Professor Epps. Some have also wondered which of Jernigan´s female doctoral students is the basis for this character.