October 10, 2026
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Tom Lehrer, RIP

Tom Lehrer, RIP

The American mathematician and musical satirist died today at home in Cambridge, Mass., at the age of 97.

He won renown in the early 1960s for songs that lampooned the US military, the Pope, the Cold War, the nuclear threat, Alma Mahler and the teaching of mathematics (in which he won his first degree at age 18).

Twenty years ago I invited him to teach in a course I was giving on musical irony. He replied that he was over that sort of thing.

The conductor’s version:

The post Tom Lehrer, RIP appeared first on Slippedisc.

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