#tomlehrer — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #tomlehrer, aggregated by home.social.
-
Operation Overcast was certainly underway by July 1945, approved by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to bring into the US 350 German scientists, including #WernerVonBraun and his V2 rocket team, chemical weapons designers, and artillery and submarine engineers.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/04/24/a-picayune-detail-nazi-science-heads-west/
Soundtrack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjDEsGZLbioLyrics
https://tomlehrersongs.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/wernher-von-braun.pdf -
“I am never forget the day I first meet the great Lobachevsky. / In one word he told me secret of success in mathematics: / Plagiarize!”*…
Georg Cantor and Richard DedekindIn an 1874 paper, Georg Cantor proved that there are different sizes of infinity and changed math forever. But as Joseph Howlett reports, a trove of newly unearthed letters shows that it was also an act of plagiarism…
When Demian Goos followed Karin Richter into her office on March 12 of last year, the first thing he noticed was the bust. It sat atop a tall pedestal in the corner of the room, depicting a bald, elderly gentleman with a stoic countenance. Goos saw no trace of the anxious, lonely man who had obsessed him for over a year.
Instead, this was Georg Cantor as history saw him. An intellectual giant: steadfast, strong-willed, determined to bring about a mathematical revolution over the clamorous objections of his peers.
It was here, at the University of Halle in Germany, that Cantor launched his revolution 150 years ago. Here, in 1874, he published one of the most important papers in math’s 4,000-year history. That paper crystallized a concept that had long been viewed as a mathematical malignancy to be shunned at all costs: infinity. It forced mathematicians to question some of their longest-held assumptions, rocking mathematics to its very foundations. And it gave rise to a new field of study that would eventually bring about a rewriting of the entire subject.
Now Goos, a 35-year-old mathematician and journalist, had come to Halle — a five-hour train ride from his home in Mainz — to look at some letters from Cantor’s estate. He’d seen a scan of one and was pretty sure he knew what the others would say. But he wanted to see them in person.
Richter — who, like Cantor, had spent her entire career here, first as a research mathematician and then, after retiring, as a lecturer on the history of mathematics — gestured for Goos to sit. She lifted a thin blue binder from the scattered piles of books and papers on her desk. Inside were dozens of plastic sheet protectors, each one containing an old, handwritten letter.
Goos began flipping through, contemplating the letters with the relish of an archaeologist entering a long-lost tomb. Then he reached a particular page and froze. He struggled to catch his breath.
It wasn’t the handwriting. At this point in his research on Cantor, he’d become accustomed to the strange, nearly indecipherable Gothic script known as kurrentschrift, which Germans used until around 1900.
It wasn’t the signature. He knew that the German mathematician Richard Dedekind had been a key player in Cantor’s quest to understand infinity and solidify math’s foundations, and that the two had exchanged many letters.
It was the date: November 30, 1873.
He’d never seen this letter before. No one had. It was believed to be lost, destroyed in the tumult of World War II or perhaps by Cantor himself.
This was the letter that had the power to rewrite Cantor’s legacy. The letter that proved once and for all that Cantor’s famous 1874 paper, the one that would go on to reshape all of mathematics, had been an act of plagiarism…
The extraordinary story of unearthing this extraordinary story: “The Man Who Stole Infinity,” from @quantamagazine.bsky.social.
See also: “How Can Infinity Come in Many Sizes?“
* Tom Lehrer (not just a glorious songwriter, but also a gifted mathematician), “Lobachevsky” (referring to the mathematician Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky— “not intended as a slur on [Lobachevsky’s] character [but chosen]”solely for prosodic reasons”)
###
As we confer credit where credit is due, we might spare a thought for Charles-Jean Étienne Gustave Nicolas, baron de la Vallée Poussin; he died on this date in 1962. A Belgian mathematician, he is best known for proving the prime number theorem (which formalized the intuitive idea that primes become less common as they become larger by precisely quantifying the rate at which this occurs). So great was the contribution that the King of Belgium ennobled him with the title of baron.
#Cantor #culture #DemianGoos #GeorgCantor #history #infinity #KarinRichter #Mathematics #primeNumberTheorem #primeNumbers #RichardDedekind #Science #TomLehrer #ValléePoussin #ValleePoussin -
#Heute 21Uhr auf der #Wuestewelle eine Stunde Lieder für eine besser Welt!
Thema in der roten Note ist #Weihnachten : ohne biederen Mief dafür mit #Kapitalismuskritik und Gedanken an den Menschen, denen nicht zu feiern zu Mute istSchaltet auf 96,6mgh in #Tübingen #Reutlingen #Rottenburg oder streamt auf https://www.wueste-welle.de/Mediathek.html
#musik #radio #rotenote #antikapitalismus #kommunismus #frieden #renaud #kreisler #poppys #tucholsky #tomlehrer #esbrennt #tannenbaum #coluche #resto #vahle #podcast
-
Growing up, the three R's were reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic. Not any more.
While #reading and #writing are incredibly useful, #arithmetic isn't quite as essential when I have a calculator in my pocket. #Mathematics, on the other hand, is necessary for lots of things, as #TomLehrer demonstrates: https://youtu.be/2VZbWJIndlQ?si=PiSJBwgv7mUCGU7m
In this millennium, the three R's are #reload, #restart, and #reinstall. And, when you contact #support, they will walk you through them first.
-
"If you could be an anarchist and still have a hero, [Tom Lehrer] was our hero." Now, I ask you, what's not to like about a brilliant wit who was an instructor in math and musical theatre and whose email address, according to this article from the Library of America, was livinglegend at ucsc dot edu? #Comedy #Music #MusicalTheatre #MusicalTheater #Musical #Math #Culture #Entertainment #TomLehrer https://www.loa.org/news-and-views/that-was-the-e-mail-exchange-that-was-tom-lehrer-weighs-in-on-the-greatest-american-musicals/
-
Now Dems Attack on Epstein
- OPEN: (0:58) Good riddance to Terry Bollea, (3:07) Goodbye to Ozzy Osbourne, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Chuck Mangione, George Kooymans, (4:48) Tom Lehrer (“The Old Dope Peddler“)
- MAIN: (6:05) Epstein, Epstein, Epstein (15:14) JOHNSON: pardon clip, (18:46) TRUMP: “privilege” clip, (21:15) 2 LIVE CREW: “Mansion” clip, now Dems pounce
- NATIONAL: (23:43) Gallup: Transitioning is morally wrong; (28:35) Wind & Solar (THEISSEN Clip)
- DEMOCRATS: (29:57) Zohran at Wu-Tang (31:45) CUOMO Clip, (33:38) MAMDANI Clip
- REPUBLICANS: (36:35) Dept. of Fatherland Security; (41:38) Gwen Snyder’s Flavors of GOP Freaks; (45:14) OK Superintendent porn
- INTERNATIONAL: (47:13) Israel is starving Gaza (NYT Bret Stephens)
- IDAHO: (52:38) U of I killer goes away forever, hooray for cameras in the court!
- RANT: (55:04) Uber promotes Sexual Discrimination
- CLOSE: (1:04:40) #TubiTVNight “Odyssey 5“; (1:05:58) Glorilla break-in, pot arrest; (1:08:34) Tom Lehrer (“The Elements“)
#2LiveCrew #AndrewCuomo #BretStephens #BrianKohberger #ChuckMangione #DonaldTrump #Gallup #Gaza #genocide #GeorgeKooymans #Glorilla #GwenSnyder #Idaho #Israel #JeffreyEpstein #LukeSkyywalker #MalcolmJamalWarner #MarcTheissen #MikeJohnson #Odyssey5 #Oklahoma #OzzyOsbourne #Palestine #RyanWalters #TerryBollea #TomLehrer #Uber #ZohranMamdani
-
Lol, I can just imagine that line delivered in that way Peter Cook did.
-
@cstross #musician #activist #truthteller #pollution #environment #society #truth I still recall the lyrics to most of his songs, which were indeed more #parables #hero #witness #TomLehrer led the way for so many other #environmentalists and #americans He was our #teacher too.
-
@cstross #musician #activist #truthteller #pollution #environment #society #truth I still recall the lyrics to most of his songs, which were indeed more #parables #hero #witness #TomLehrer led the way for so many other #environmentalists and #americans He was our #teacher too.
-
@cstross #musician #activist #truthteller #pollution #environment #society #truth I still recall the lyrics to most of his songs, which were indeed more #parables #hero #witness #TomLehrer led the way for so many other #environmentalists and #americans He was our #teacher too.
-
@cstross #musician #activist #truthteller #pollution #environment #society #truth I still recall the lyrics to most of his songs, which were indeed more #parables #hero #witness #TomLehrer led the way for so many other #environmentalists and #americans He was our #teacher too.
-
@cstross #musician #activist #truthteller #pollution #environment #society #truth I still recall the lyrics to most of his songs, which were indeed more #parables #hero #witness #TomLehrer led the way for so many other #environmentalists and #americans He was our #teacher too.
-
I just went down the Tom Lehrer rabbit hole (once again). Such a brilliantly witty satirist & pianist, and creator of some of the best worst puns & internal tortured rhymes you could ever wish for (and I say that as a card-carrying #Sondheim fan 🙃)
and he’s still alive! 😜
I hope you all know his wonderful body of work already, but if not – strap in, you’re one of today’s lucky 10,000…! 🎉🎉🎉
enjoy his biting ditties in glorious B&W…
👉 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1C68974C982CBA68he released all his songs into the public domain in 2022
👉 https://tomlehrersongs.com/disclaimer/so…
go stream or download them
👉 https://tomlehrersongs.com/albums/#TomLehrer 🎶🎭
#PoisoningPigeonsInThePark 🐦
#VaticanRag ✝️
#Lobachevsky 📓
#FightFierclyHarvard 🏉
#TheElements ⚛️
#NationalBrotherhoodWeek 😇
#VernerVonBraun 🚀
#SendTheMarines 🫡
#MasochismTango 💃
#IHoldYourHandInMine 🫴
#WeWillAllGoTogetherWhenWeGo 💣 -
I wondered if @great78 at @internetarchive had recordings that fit the odd hashtag of the day,
#songsormoviesaboutcorn
???
Sure it does! From #Rachmaninoff to #BurlIves! ( Which reminds me that #TomLehrer once wrote, "Some people don't even care if Jimmy crack corn," but I doubt that was ever released on a 78 RPM record. -
My #introduction:
Scientific background in #ornithology and #ecology.
Recreational #birding in #Oregon and elsewhere.
#Writing projects include #NaturalHistory #ScienceFiction #Fantasy #Poetry #translation
I like #birds #genealogy #astronomy #Mars #spaniels #dinosaurs #GeneWolfe #PatrickOBrian #UrsulaLeGuin #Schiller #NekoCase #TomLehrer
Should work all of those into a story!
Commentary here is personal opinion and does not represent my employer.
See also my blog: https://canterburia.blogspot.com
