Tom Lehrer's "The Elements", illustrated

The Periodic Table of Elements is one of the greatest predictive insights in the history of science. Dmitri Mendeleev spotted patterns, and order, and arranged the evidence according to the patterns. When he created the table, there were gaps - and the gaps were predictions. There will be a new element *here*, and it will have properties like this. And those predictions worked. THAT is the power of science, right there, and Mendeleev is therefore one of the great insightful geniuses.

Tom Lehrer is also a genius, a mathematics professor who in his spare time in the late fifties wrote some songs, recorded some albums, did some touring and became globally famous and then packed it all in and went back to teaching because he was bored of fame and hated singing the same things over and over. If you don't know his work, seek it out.

There are some little in jokes in this video, see if you can spot them.

I know this has been done before, and probably better, but this is, like the Arthur Askey video, something that was itching in my head to come out.

Category:

Comedy

Tags:

• science
• elements
• lehrer
• chemistry

[PSlappy02]

where the heck is my favorite element, Lawrencium! i know it's not in the song but not on the table! Lawrence,KS is home of the jawhawks! my favorite college team!

[SonOfRojBlake]

@PSlappy02 "And there may be many others but they haven't been dis-car-vered. The song was written in 1959, so all the ones filling in after 1:17 were unknown at that time.

[michael19978004]

Is he rapping the elements?

[SonOfRojBlake]

@michael19978004 well... if you call light opera "rapping". Which, I guess... you can. Sorta. So, yeah.

[monicalionel]

@SonOfRojBlake no I wasn't idk with he was saying to mi it's a bunch of gibberish

[SonOfRojBlake]

@monicalionel OK. The guy is reciting his list of the elements of the periodic table. That's it. The picture is just lighting up the one he's saying at any given time.

There's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium,

and hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium,

and nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium

and iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium.... etc.

All to the tune of "I am the very model of a modern major general", from "The Pirates of Penzance" by Gilbert and Sullivan. Google it.

[thenewmase]

I gotta learn this song before I die

[ItsShinyTime]

Hmm... my school has a talent show coming up soon... I think I just found an act.

[razerburst]

@michael19978004 Took me 2 days, and I'm 9!

[michael19978004]

That takes me 2weeks to memorize this

[monicalionel]

@SonOfRojBlake oooooo don't I feel dum lol thnx

[SonOfRojBlake]

@monicalionel Just in case you're not kidding (you WERE kidding, right?)...

No. I don't believe you weren't kidding.