The character originated in the 1980s, created by Davis and series co-creator Keith Alcorn under the name of Johnny Quasar, and was developed in a 13-minute long short film pitched to SIGGRAPH sometime in 1997, and with production beginning in that year.

Characterized by his distinctive gravity-defying hairstyle and ridiculously high IQ of 210, Neutron is an aerospace engineer, physicist, astronaut/astronomer, biochemist, computer programmer and architect.

Throughout the series, he is often seen with his companion, a silver-gray robot dog named Goddard and a rocket ship nicknamed the Strato XL which he uses in the opening sequence, both of which he invented.

Jimmy's friends are overweight Carl Wheezer and hyperactive Sheen Estevez, and he has a long-standing rivalry with his intelligent classmate, Cindy Vortex.

In the 1980s, Keith Alcorn and John A. Davis created the character, originally named Johnny Quasar (inspired by a facetious nickname that his Summer co-workers had coined for him in his youth),[1] who builds a rocket ship and runs away from his parents.