Sheldon's new Young Sheldon story just made its The Big Bang Theory finale's Nobel Prize plot hole worse. TV's number-one comedy continues Sheldon's effort to get his grant database project off the ground after cutting out East Texas Tech from it. He seeks out investors on his own, but no one would take him seriously because of his age, prompting him to seek help from Dr. Sturgis, who offered genuine support. It's great to see Sheldon and his original mentor team up again after several seasons of being separated. However, this further emphasizes Young Sheldon's long-existing The Big Bang Theory finale plot hole regarding Sheldon's Nobel Prize win.
After a couple of hurdles, Sheldon and Amy's Super Asymmetry paper won the Nobel Prize in Physics during the emotional The Big Bang Theory finale. It was a big moment for Sheldon as receiving the accolade was his lifelong dream. None of the Coopers attended the awarding ceremony in Sweden, although the socially-inept genius didn't forget to thank them. He also expressed gratitude towards the Pasadena gang, but he seemingly missed an important part of his scientific journey — Dr. Sturgis who was the one who got him into physics in the first place.
Mary allowed Sheldon to start college early because she knew Dr. Sturgis would be at East Texas Tech. However, it coincided with Dr. Sturgis moving to Waxahachie, Texas for his dream job. This seemed to be the end of their relationship, effectively explaining Young Sheldon's The Big Bang Theory finale plot hole as it meant that they drifted apart and lost contact then. However, not only is Dr. Sturgis back at East Texas Tech, but he also proves that he will always have Sheldon's best interest at heart as they work on the grant database together. This makes Sheldon not thanking him in The Big Bang Theory finale much worse.
Despite Sheldon's intellectual prowess, he can still be naive which comes from his biological age. This makes him vulnerable to people like East Texas Tech President Hagemeyer and Dr. Linkletter who don't genuinely care for him but only want to take advantage of his genius for fame and money. Sheldon's experience throughout this grant database project may have been the reason why he was so guarded and suspicious. It could even be the reason for TBBT's oldest plot —The Roommate Agreement. However, it also re-emphasizes the argument that Sheldon should have definitely included Dr. Sturgis in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech.
In reality, Sheldon didn't thank Dr. Sturgis during The Big Bang Theory finale because CBS wasn't actively tying the shows together despite existing in the same reality. By then, Young Sheldon was just in its second season, and mentioning someone from the prequel who neither appeared nor mentioned in the flagship sitcom could confuse viewers. Young Sheldon showrunner Steve Molaro confirmed this, saying that their main goal was "to honor the history of Big Bang. It didn't seem like the right time to invoke specific characters from Young Sheldon." No in-universe explanation regarding this has been revealed, but perhaps Young Sheldon can come up with something moving forward.
