![]() ![]() In 1965 he gave up on his mathematics dissertation on modes in statistics, after having worked on it intermittently for 15 years. įrom 1962, Lehrer taught in the political science department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1960, Lehrer returned to full-time math studies at Harvard. ![]() In 2020 Lehrer publicly revealed that he had been assigned to the NSA, since the mere fact of its existence was classified at the time this left him in the position of implicitly using nuclear weapons work as a cover story for something more sensitive. These experiences became fodder for songs, such as "The Wild West is Where I Want to Be" and "It Makes a Fellow Proud to Be a Soldier". ĭespite holding a master's degree in an era when American conscripts often lacked a high school diploma, Lehrer served as an enlisted soldier, achieving the rank of Specialist Third Class, which he described as being a " corporal without portfolio". Lehrer has stated that he invented the Jello shot during this time, as a means of circumventing a naval base's ban on alcoholic beverages. Army from 1955 to 1957, working at the National Security Agency (NSA). Lehrer remained in Harvard's doctoral program for several years, taking time out for his musical career and to work as a researcher at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. He later taught mathematics and other classes at MIT, Harvard, Wellesley, and the University of California, Santa Cruz. He received his AM degree the next year and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. At Harvard, he was the roommate of the Canadian theologian Robert Crouse. Lehrer graduated Bachelor of Arts in mathematics from Harvard University, magna cum laude, in 1946. Those songs were later named collectively The Physical Revue, a joking reference to a leading scientific journal, the Physical Review. As a mathematics undergraduate student at Harvard College, he began to write comic songs to entertain his friends, including " Fight Fiercely, Harvard" (1945). Lehrer was considered a child prodigy and entered Harvard College, where one of his professors was Irving Kaplansky, at the age of 15 after graduating from Loomis School. He also attended Camp Androscoggin, both as a camper and a counselor. Lehrer attended the Horace Mann School in Riverdale, New York, part of the Bronx. At this early age, he began writing show tunes, which eventually helped him as a satirical composer and writer in his years of lecturing at Harvard University and later at other universities. Eventually, his mother also sent him to a popular-music piano teacher. He began studying classical piano at the age of seven, but was more interested in the popular music of the age. He was the second and younger son of Moses James Lehrer (1898-?) and Anna Lehrer (née Waller) (1905-1978). Thomas Andrew Lehrer was born on Apto a secular Jewish family and grew up on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Lehrer quoted a friend's explanation: "Always predict the worst and you'll be hailed as a prophet." In the early 1970s, Lehrer largely retired from public performances to devote his time to teaching mathematics and musical theater history at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The popularity of these songs has far outlasted their topical subjects and references. version of the television show That Was the Week That Was. In the 1960s, he produced a number of songs that dealt with social and political issues of the day, particularly when he wrote for the U.S. Lehrer's early musical work typically dealt with non-topical subject matter and was noted for its black humor in songs such as " Poisoning Pigeons in the Park". A notable exception is " The Elements", in which he set the names of the chemical elements to the tune of the " Major-General's Song" from Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance. His songs often parodied popular musical forms, though he usually created original melodies when doing so. He is best known for the pithy and humorous songs that he recorded in the 1950s and 1960s. Thomas Andrew Lehrer ( / ˈ l ɛər ər/ born April 9, 1928) is an American former musician, singer-songwriter, satirist, and mathematician, having lectured on mathematics and musical theater.
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