Tom Lehrer's "The Elements" and the Joy of Scientists
A special performance, to which you are invited
Tom Lehrer' song "The Elements" has a unique, gleeful role in the universe. You are invited to a special performance of the song on Friday Night, February 14, 2025, at the Improbable Research show at the AAAS Annual Meeting, in Boston, Massachusetts.
Here's video of Tom Lehrer performing the song in 1967:
About the Song
The song is a feat of intellectual gymnastics. Tom Lehrer managed to (tidily!) fit the names of all the chemical elements (all that were known at the time he wrote the lyrics) to the rousing Gilbert & Sullivan tune "Modern Major General". It is a tour de force. An almost disturbingly large number of scientists know the song by heart, and will sing it for you if you ask them politely.
About the Event
AAAS is the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the largest science organization in the world (they publish Science magazine). Every year since the mid-1990's we (Improbable Research) have done a show as a special part of the AAAS's annual meeting.
That Improbable Research show is open free to the public. You are invited! It's at the Sheraton Boston Hotel (adjoining the Hines Convention Center, beginning at 8 pm, Friday, February 14, 2025, in the Constitution Ballroom. This show is open to the public, free. Bring friends. Bring your voice, if you like.
"The Elements" will be the thrilling conclusion element of a show packed with brief bits. Specifically:
Marc Abrahams: A quick look at the newest crop of Ig Nobel Prize winners
Jimmy Liao (Ig Nobel Prize winner): How dead trout manage to swim upstream
Becky Moon: How to live-illustrate a science talk
Dan Lieberman (Ig Nobel Prize winner): Why the gluteus is so maximus
Dany Adams: Fundamental ideas in science (that have gotten a little lost along the way)
Julie Skinner Vargas (on behalf of her Ig Nobel-winning father, the late B.F. Skinner): Housing live pigeons inside missiles to guide the flight paths of the missiles
Louise Reilly Sacco: Science in the Museum of Bad Art
Musical performances:
Pooja Usgaoncar — “The Murphy’s Law Song”
Thomas Michel — Tom Lehrer’s “The Elements”
A Look Back at Sort-of-Historic Performances of "The Elements"
Daniel Radcliffe (the actor who played Harry Potter in the movies):
The cast of Loserville performing the song at the Royal Institution's Christmas Lecture:
Kohl Kitzmiller's one-person a capella performance:
Helen Arney, with added elements:
Someone doggedly working to memorize the lyrics:
The song illustrated (by Theo Gray, who won an Ig Nobel Prize for creating a four-legged periodic table table) with photos of each element of the periodic table:
A version with various scientists each singing an element:
A version sung by science teacher Stinakat:
A version sung by Rose, age 3:
Alice Kettle's sister, age 11:
Erik, age unspecified
The 11B Players:
Rachel Lawhead:
A puppet performance, a the Arundel festival:
A special performance in Japanese:
And there are ever so many more.
Do join us, if you can, at the Improbable Research show at the AAAS Annual Meeting, in Boston, on February 14, 2025, for this new performance. If you're there, and if you cannot stop yourself from singing along, you will not be alone.
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