Helen Arney, and the magazine Chemistry World, and a whole bunch of friends, have added new bits to Tom Lehrer‘s song “The Elements.” The tune was written long ago by Arthur Sullivan (of Gilbert and…). Here are videos of that version, and an earlier version in Japanese by relatives of Ig Nobel Prize winner Theo […]
Tag: elements
Family Name Frequency and Abundance of the Chemical Elements?
IS AMERICAN LAST NAME FREQUENCY INVERSELY PROPORTIONAL TO TERRESTRIAL ELEMENTAL ABUNDANCE? by E. R. Schulman and E. A. Schulman, Alexandria, Virginia Abstract Yes (provided radioactive gasses are ignored). 1. Introduction This year (2019) marks the 150th anniversary of Dmitri Mendeleev publishing the first recognizable periodic table in his paper “Relationship of Elements’ Properties to Their […]
DNA and “The Elements”, and two birthdays
Three days after James Watson (of eventual molecular-structure-of-DNA fame) was born, Tom Lehrer (eventual author and singer of “The Elements” and much more) was born. Make of that what you will. This month, each of them becomes 90 years old. Andrew Robinson wrote an appreciation of Tom Lehrer, in Nature magazine.
“Just think how many periodic tables you could put on my entire head”
Martyn Poliakoff (of the University of Nottingham) and his hair star in this epic video could be named “The Periodic Table is Etched onto One of Martyn Poliakoff’s Hairs”: