Hugh Aldersey-Williams – författare

“Fascinating and beautiful . . . if only chemistry had been like this at school.” —Matt Ridley, New York Times–bestselling author of Genome, in Prospect magazineLike the alphabet, the calendar, or the zodiac, the periodic table of the chemical elements has a permanent place in our imagination. But aside from the handful of common ones (iron, carbon, copper, gold), the elements themselves remain wrapped in mystery. We do not know what most of them look like, how they exist in nature, how they got their names, or of what use they are to us. Periodic Tales isa dazzling tour through history and literature, science and art, in which you’ll meet iron that rains from the heavens and neon as it lights its way to vice. You’ll learn how lead can tell your future and why zinc may one day line your coffin. You’ll discover what connects the bones in your body with the White House in Washington, and the glow of a streetlight with the salt on your dinner table. From the Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist for The Most Beautiful Molecule, Periodic Tales reveals the true stories of these fascinating, mysterious building blocks of the universe.“With a distinct British wit and a zest for science history, Aldersey-Williams turns his boyhood passion for the chemical elements into an insightful biography of the periodic table’s denizens . . . Be prepared to laugh along.” —Discover“A lucid, enjoyable collection . . . that, element by element, demystifies the iconic periodic table.” —Kirkus Reviews“Aldersey-Williams’s playful, hands-on approach to scientific exploration shines through the book.” —The Boston Globe

THE PHENOMENAL SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'Science writing at its best. If only chemistry had been like this at school' Matt Ridley____________________Everything in the universe is made of them, including you. Like you, the elements have personalities, attitudes, talents, shortcomings, stories rich with meaning.Here you'll meet iron that rains from the heavens and noble gases that light the way to vice. You'll learn how lead can tell your future while zinc may one day line your coffin. You'll discover what connects the bones in your body with the Whitehouse in Washington, the glow of a streetlamp with the salt on your dinner table.Unlocking their astonishing secrets and colourful pasts, Periodic Tales is a voyage of wonder and discovery, showing that their stories are inextricable from the stories of our own lives.____________________'A love letter to the chemical elements. Aldersey-Williams is full of good stories and he knows how to tell them well' Sunday Telegraph'The history, science, art, literature and everyday applications of all the elements from aluminium to zinc' The Times 'Great fun to read and an endless fund of unlikely and improbable anecdotes' Financial Times

What exactly are your chances of being struck by a meteorite?Think you're having less sex than the French?How high will sea levels actually rise?We live in an increasingly uncertain world. There's so much to worry about it is often hard to know what to really panic about. But stay calm! For Panicology is the perfect answer to the conundrums and questions that bedevil modern life. Putting a lit match to the lies, headlines and statistical twaddle that seeks to frighten us, it explores 40 reasons for worry: from binge-drinking to Frankenstein foods, bird flu to alien abductions - and explores what, if any, effect they will have on your life.Why worry in ignorance when you can be a happy, informed sceptic?

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'If only chemistry had been like this at school' Matt Ridley, Prospect________________Elements. Everything in the universe is made of them, including you. And like you, the elements have personalities, attitudes, talents, shortcomings, stories rich with meaning.Here you'll meet iron that rains from the heavens. You'll learn how lead can tell your future while zinc may one day line your coffin. You'll discover what connects the bones in your body with the Whitehouse in Washington, the glow of a streetlamp with the salt on your dinner table.Unlocking their astonishing secrets and colourful pasts, Periodic Tales is a voyage of wonder and discovery, showing that their stories are our stories, and their lives are inextricable from our own.________________'A love letter to the chemical elements. Aldersey-Williams is full of good stories, and he knows how to tell them well' Sunday Telegraph'Great fun to read and an endless fund of unlikely and improbable anecdotes' Financial Times'The history, science, art, literature and everyday applications of all the elements from aluminium to zinc' The Times

A Sunday Times 'Must Read' book.Described by the Sunday Times as "a gently studious Bill Bryson crossed with an upbeat and relaxed WG Sebald", Tide is "a superb book... a delight to read. It is profound and powerful, and should win prizes."From Cnut to D-Day, the history and science of the unceasing tide is explored for the first time.Half of the world's population lives in coastal regions lapped by tidal waters. Yet how little most of us know about the tide - a key force on our planet that has altered the course of history and will transform our future.Our ability to predict and understand the tide depends on centuries of science, from the observations of Aristotle and the theories of Newton to today's supercomputer calculations. This story is punctuated here by notable tidal episodes in history, from Caesar's thwarted invasion of Britain to the catastrophic flooding of Venice, and interwoven with a rich folklore that continues to inspire art and literature today.With Aldersey-Williams as our guide to the most feared and celebrated tidal features on the planet, from the original maelstrøm in Scandinavia to the world's highest tides in Nova Scotia to the crumbling coast of East Anglia, the importance of the tide, and the way it has shaped - and will continue to shape - our civilization, becomes startlingly clear.

From Cnut to D-Day: the history and science of the unceasing tide explored for the first time.Half of the world's population lives in coastal regions lapped by tidal waters. Yet how little most of us know about the tide.Our ability to predict and understand the tide depends on centuries of science, from the observations of Aristotle and the theories of Newton to today's supercomputer calculations. This story is punctuated here by notable tidal episodes in history, from Caesar's thwarted invasion of Britain to the catastrophic flooding of Venice, and interwoven with a rich folklore that continues to inspire art and literature today.With Aldersey-Williams as our guide to the most feared and celebrated tidal features on the planet, from the original maelstrøm in Scandinavia to the world's highest tides in Nova Scotia to the crumbling coast of East Anglia, the importance of the tide, and the way it has shaped - and will continue to shape - our civilization, becomes startlingly clear.

Sir Thomas Browne (1605–1682) was an English writer, physician, and philosopher whose work has inspired everyone from Ralph Waldo Emerson to Jorge Luis Borges, Virginia Woolf to Stephen Jay Gould. In an intellectual adventure like Sarah Bakewell's book about Montaigne, How to Live, Hugh Aldersey-Williams sets off not just to tell the story of Browne's life but to champion his skeptical nature and inquiring mind.Mixing botany, etymology, medicine, and literary history, Aldersey-Williams journeys in his hero's footsteps to introduce us to witches, zealots, natural wonders, and fabulous creatures of Browne's time and ours. We meet Browne the master prose stylist, responsible for introducing hundreds of words into English, including electricity, hallucination, and suicide. Aldersey-Williams reveals how Browne’s preoccupations—how to disabuse the credulous of their foolish beliefs, what to make of order in nature, how to unite science and religion—are relevant today.In Search of Sir Thomas Browne is more than just a biography—it is a cabinet of wonders and an argument that Browne, standing at the very gates of modern science, remains an inquiring mind for our own time. As Stephen Greenblatt has written, Browne is "unnervingly one of our most adventurous contemporaries."

Half of the world’s population today lives in coastal regions lapped by tidal waters. But the tide rises and falls according to rules that are a mystery to almost all of us. In The Tide, celebrated science writer Hugh Aldersey-Williams weaves together centuries of scientific thinking with the literature and folklore the tide has inspired to explain the power and workings of this most remarkable force.Here is the epic story of the long search to understand the tide from Aristotle, to Galileo and Newton, to classic literary portrayals of the tide from Shakespeare to Dickens, Melville to Jules Verne. Throughout, Aldersey-Williams whisks the reader along on his travels: He visits the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, where the tides are the strongest in the world; arctic Norway, home of the raging tidal whirlpool known as the maelstrom; and Venice, to investigate efforts to defend the city against flooding caused by the famed acqua alta.

The Most Beautiful Molecule "The molecule, buckminsterfullerene, is beautiful physically and intellectually. Its qualities, and even some of its properties, can be appreciated instantly and intuitively by nonscientists. Its uniqueness is bound to lead to novel applications-superconductivity is the leading contender at the moment." "The commercial potential of buckminsterfullerene has heightened the excitement and controversy in recent years, while the exact nature of the discovery process in 1985 has been the subject of a heated feud between the British and American scientists involved."-Hugh Aldersey-Williams Ten years ago, the discovery of buckminsterfullerene, a previously unknown form of carbon, stunned the scientific community, as much for the discovery itself as for the manner in which it came about. In the words of author Hugh Aldersey-Williams, it was an example of "classic bootleg science". The work was done on the back of other, funded projects, and when time would allow. Yet its commercial implications are probably immense. Now, with objectivity and insight, The Most Beautiful Molecule recounts the events leading up to this momentous discovery and chronicles the ongoing, often frenzied aftermath. Hugh Aldersey-Williams leads us on a thrilling expedition to the very forefront of modern chemistry research. Houston, Texas, 1985. Two industrious chemists discover a previously unknown form of carbon and christen it buckminsterfullerene, for its striking resemblance to American architect Richard Buckminster Fuller's geodesic domes. This unusual molecule-also known as the buckyball-is composed of 60 carbon atoms arranged in a hollow sphere, with hexagonal and pentagonal configurations similar to those found on a soccer ball. Its near-perfect symmetry is just one reason why scientists have since dubbed it "the most beautiful molecule." The discovery of buckminsterfullerene-by American physicist and chemist Richard Smalley and British physical chemist Harry Kroto-rocked the scientific community. After all, generations believed graphite and diamond to be the only pure forms of carbon. How had this third form gone undetected? In fact, the actual discovery was merely the beginning of an intense-and ongoing-quest to master this newest form of the most basic of elements. Confirmation would take five years and launch an unprecedented flood of investigation and investment. The unique physical structure of buckminsterfullerene-a "cage" into which atoms of other materials may be inserted-had huge commercial potential and inspired scientists, industrial laboratories, and corporations alike. Backed by such giants as AT&T, DuPont, Exxon, and IBM, a highly competitive search for practical applications began-and continues. Possibilities range from the creation of a revolutionary rocket fuel to nanotechnology-the construction of microscopic "molecular machines"-to developments in the fight against AIDS. Here, then, is a fascinating, multilayered look at one of the most important scientific findings of our time. The Most Beautiful Molecule is a brain-teasing detective story, a marvelously detailed, inside look at the workings of the scientific community, and an exciting contemplation of what lies ahead. From the forefront of research in modern chemistry, author Hugh Aldersey-Williams offers, in his own words, "a celebration of the intimate world of physical science and its practitioners."

The Sunday Times Science Book of the Year, Anatomies by Hugh Aldersey-Williams, author of bestseller Periodic Tales, is a splendidly entertaining journey through the art, science, literature and history of the human body.'Magnificent, inspired. He writes like a latter-day Montaigne. Stimulating scientific hypotheses, bold philosophic theories, illuminating quotations and curious facts. I recommend it to all' Telegraph *****'Splendid, highly entertaining, chock-full of insights ... It inserts fascinating scientific snippets and anecdotes about our organs into the wider history of our changing understanding of our bodies' Sunday Times'A relentlessly entertaining cultural history of the human body ... brims with fascinating details, infectious enthusiasm ... the terrain he covers is so richly brought to life' Guardian'Elegant and informative ... For Aldersey-Williams, [the body] is a thing of wonder and a repository of fascinating facts' Mail on Sunday ****In Anatomies, bestselling author Hugh Aldersey-Williams investigates that marvellous, mysterious form: the human body. Providing a treasure trove of surprising facts, remarkable stories and startling information drawn from across history, science, art and literature - from finger-prints to angel physiology, from Isaac Newton's death-mask to the afterlife of Einstein's brain - he explores our relationship with our bodies and investigates our changing attitudes to the extraordinary physical shell we inhabit.'More than a science book - it's also history, biography and autobiography - Anatomies is writing at its most refined, regardless of genre' Sunday TimesPraise for Periodic Tales:'Science writing at its best ... fascinating and beautiful ... if only chemistry had been like this at school ... to meander through the periodic table with him ... is like going round a zoo with Gerald Durrell ... a rich compilation of delicious tales, but it offers greater rewards, too' Matt Ridley'Immensely engaging and continually makes one sit up in ­surprise' Sunday Times'Splendid ... enjoyable and polished' Observer'Full of good stories and he knows how to tell them well ... an agreeable jumble of anecdote, reflection and information' Sunday Telegraph'Great fun to read and an endless fund of unlikely and improbable anecdotes ... sharp and often witty' Financial TimesHugh Aldersey-Williams studied natural sciences at Cambridge. He is the author of several books exploring science, design and architecture and has curated exhibitions at the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Wellcome Collection. His previous book Periodic Tales: The Curious Lives of the Elements was a Sunday Times bestseller and has been published in many languages around the world. He lives in Norfolk with his wife and son.

A collection of the most fascinating letters by the world''s greatest scientists.''Most people say that it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character'' – Albert EinsteinScientists are not often remembered for their character, but rather for the enduring impact of their ideas, inventions, and discoveries. Letters for the Ages: The Great Scientists delves beyond the known historical facts and narratives to uncover the personal writings of some of history''s greatest thinkers and innovators, drawing together over 100 private and intimate letters from across almost 500 years of scientific history.This collection illuminates the individuals behind humanity''s greatest ideas and inventions – from the vaccine to the telephone, the engine to the X-ray – and those responsible for broadening our understanding of our world and the universe beyond. Each letter provides us with an opportunity for exploration and empathy – each a new chance to understand the desires to create, discover and improve held at the core of our humanity.Immerse yourself in the words of some of history''s greatest scientific minds, including Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, Marie Curie, Francis Crick, Rosalind Franklin, Galileo Galilei, Alan Turing and Stephen Hawking amongst many others.

A collection of the most fascinating letters by the world's greatest scientists.‘Most people say that it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character’ – Albert EinsteinScientists are not often remembered for their character, but rather for the enduring impact of their ideas, inventions, and discoveries. Letters for the Ages: The Great Scientists delves beyond the known historical facts and narratives to uncover the personal writings of some of history’s greatest thinkers and innovators, drawing together over 100 private and intimate letters from across almost 500 years of scientific history.This collection illuminates the individuals behind humanity’s greatest ideas and inventions – from the vaccine to the telephone, the engine to the X-ray – and those responsible for broadening our understanding of our world and the universe beyond. Each letter provides us with an opportunity for exploration and empathy – each a new chance to understand the desires to create, discover and improve held at the core of our humanity.Immerse yourself in the words of some of history’s greatest scientific minds, including Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, Marie Curie, Francis Crick, Rosalind Franklin, Galileo Galilei, Alan Turing and Stephen Hawking amongst many others.

A collection of the most fascinating letters by the world''s greatest scientists.''Most people say that it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character'' – Albert EinsteinScientists are not often remembered for their character, but rather for the enduring impact of their ideas, inventions, and discoveries. Letters for the Ages: The Great Scientists delves beyond the known historical facts and narratives to uncover the personal writings of some of history''s greatest thinkers and innovators, drawing together over 100 private and intimate letters from across almost 500 years of scientific history.This collection illuminates the individuals behind humanity''s greatest ideas and inventions – from the vaccine to the telephone, the engine to the X-ray – and those responsible for broadening our understanding of our world and the universe beyond. Each letter provides us with an opportunity for exploration and empathy – each a new chance to understand the desires to create, discover and improve held at the core of our humanity.Immerse yourself in the words of some of history''s greatest scientific minds, including Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, Marie Curie, Francis Crick, Rosalind Franklin, Galileo Galilei, Alan Turing and Stephen Hawking amongst many others.

'Enchanting to the point of escapism.' – Simon Ings, Spectator'Hugh Aldersey-Williams rescues his subject from Newton's shadow, where he was been unjustly confined for over three hundred years.' – Literary ReviewFilled with incident, discovery, and revelation, Dutch Light is a vivid account of Christiaan Huygens’s remarkable life and career, but it is also nothing less than the story of the birth of modern science as we know it. Europe’s greatest scientist during the latter half of the seventeenth century, Christiaan Huygens was a true polymath. A towering figure in the fields of astronomy, optics, mechanics, and mathematics, many of his innovations in methodology, optics and timekeeping remain in use to this day. Among his many achievements, he developed the theory of light travelling as a wave, invented the mechanism for the pendulum clock, and discovered the rings of Saturn – via a telescope that he had also invented.A man of fashion and culture, Christiaan came from a family of multi-talented individuals whose circle included not only leading figures of Dutch society, but also artists and philosophers such as Rembrandt, Locke and Descartes. The Huygens family and their contemporaries would become key actors in the Dutch Golden Age, a time of unprecedented intellectual expansion within the Netherlands. Set against a backdrop of worldwide religious and political turmoil, this febrile period was defined by danger, luxury and leisure, but also curiosity, purpose, and tremendous possibility.Following in Huygens’s footsteps as he navigates this era while shuttling opportunistically between countries and scientific disciplines, Hugh Aldersey-Williams builds a compelling case to reclaim Huygens from the margins of history and acknowledge him as one of our most important and influential scientific figures.

'At last – a scintillating biography of Christiaan Huygens . . . Hugh Aldersley-Williams has evocatively illuminated this brilliant polymath who laid the foundations of modern European science.' Dr Patricia Fara, Emeritus Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge'Fascinating . . . an impressive piece of scholarship. I learned a lot.'John Gribbin, author of Six Impossible Things and In Search of Schrödinger's CatFilled with incident, discovery, and revelation, Dutch Light is a vivid account of Christiaan Huygens’s remarkable life and career, but it is also nothing less than the story of the birth of modern science as we know it. Europe’s greatest scientist during the latter half of the seventeenth century, Christiaan Huygens was a true polymath. A towering figure in the fields of astronomy, optics, mechanics, and mathematics, many of his innovations in methodology, optics and timekeeping remain in use to this day. Among his many achievements, he developed the theory of light travelling as a wave, invented the mechanism for the pendulum clock, and discovered the rings of Saturn – via a telescope that he had also invented.A man of fashion and culture, Christiaan came from a family of multi-talented individuals whose circle included not only leading figures of Dutch society, but also artists and philosophers such as Rembrandt, Locke and Descartes. The Huygens family and their contemporaries would become key actors in the Dutch Golden Age, a time of unprecedented intellectual expansion within the Netherlands. Set against a backdrop of worldwide religious and political turmoil, this febrile period was defined by danger, luxury and leisure, but also curiosity, purpose, and tremendous possibility.Following in Huygens’s footsteps as he navigates this era while shuttling opportunistically between countries and scientific disciplines, Hugh Aldersey-Williams builds a compelling case to reclaim Huygens from the margins of history and acknowledge him as one of our most important and influential scientific figures.

'Enchanting to the point of escapism.' – Simon Ings, Spectator'Hugh Aldersey-Williams rescues his subject from Newton's shadow, where he was been unjustly confined for over three hundred years.' – Literary ReviewFilled with incident, discovery, and revelation, Dutch Light is a vivid account of Christiaan Huygens’s remarkable life and career, but it is also nothing less than the story of the birth of modern science as we know it. Europe’s greatest scientist during the latter half of the seventeenth century, Christiaan Huygens was a true polymath. A towering figure in the fields of astronomy, optics, mechanics, and mathematics, many of his innovations in methodology, optics and timekeeping remain in use to this day. Among his many achievements, he developed the theory of light travelling as a wave, invented the mechanism for the pendulum clock, and discovered the rings of Saturn – via a telescope that he had also invented.A man of fashion and culture, Christiaan came from a family of multi-talented individuals whose circle included not only leading figures of Dutch society, but also artists and philosophers such as Rembrandt, Locke and Descartes. The Huygens family and their contemporaries would become key actors in the Dutch Golden Age, a time of unprecedented intellectual expansion within the Netherlands. Set against a backdrop of worldwide religious and political turmoil, this febrile period was defined by danger, luxury and leisure, but also curiosity, purpose, and tremendous possibility.Following in Huygens’s footsteps as he navigates this era while shuttling opportunistically between countries and scientific disciplines, Hugh Aldersey-Williams builds a compelling case to reclaim Huygens from the margins of history and acknowledge him as one of our most important and influential scientific figures.