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Hugh Aldersey-Williams (born 1959) is a British author and journalist. Aldersey-Williams was educated at Highgate School and studied the natural sciences at the University of Cambridge. His several books discuss issues surrounding natural and man-made designs. He has curated exhibitions at the Victoria and Albert Museum as well as the Wellcome Collection.

Aldersey-Williams is perhaps best known for his 2011 book Periodic Tales, which The Daily Telegraph described as "a paean to the building blocks of matter". The book takes a comprehensive look through world history to detail where, how, and why humanity discovered the elements. It also received praise from Kirkus Reviews, which labelled it "lucid" and "enjoyable". In October 2015 he co-curated an exhibition based on the book at Compton Verney Art Gallery, Periodic Tales: The Art of the Elements, exhibiting predominantly contemporary art works and focusing on the relationship between artistic objects and the elemental materials that go into their making.

Aldersey-Williams contributed an essay on Sir Thomas Browne to The Society for Curious Thought.

Background

Aldersey-Williams has a lifetime hobby, since his teenage days, of collecting samples of the elements and setting them up in his home.

Books

• Aldersey-Williams, Hugh (1995). The most beautiful molecule: the discovery of the buckyball. New York: Wiley. ISBN 978-0-471-10938-9. OCLC 32349204.
• Aldersey-Williams, Hugh (2003). Zoomorphic: new animal architecture. London: Laurence King. ISBN 978-1-85669-340-0. OCLC 53068933.
• Aldersey-Williams, Hugh (2012). Periodic tales: a cultural history of the elements, from arsenic to zinc. New York: Ecco. ISBN 978-0-06-182473-9. OCLC 754770739.
• Aldersey-Williams, Hugh (2013). Anatomies: a cultural history of the human body. New York: Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-23988-1. OCLC 827852486.
• Aldersey-Williams, Hugh (2015). In search of Sir Thomas Browne: the life and afterlife of the seventeenth century's most inquiring mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-24164-8. OCLC 891611145.
• Aldersey-Williams, Hugh (2016). Tide: the science and lore of the greatest force on earth. London: Viking. ISBN 978-0-241-00336-7. OCLC 951212534.
• Aldersey-Williams, Hugh (2020). Dutch light: Christiaan Huygens and the making of science in Europe. London: Picador. ISBN 978-1-5098-9333-1. OCLC 1144105192.

See also

• List of University of Cambridge members
• List of English writers

References

1. ^ "Four Way Interview - Hugh Aldersey-Williams". Popular Science UK. February 2011. Archived from the original on 12 May 2017. Retrieved 29 March 2011.
2. ^ Farmelo, Graham (30 January 2011). "Periodic Tales by Hugh Aldersey-Williams: review". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 29 March 2011.
3. "Periodic Tales". HarperCollins. Archived from the original on 7 September 2012.
4. Campbell-Johnston, Rachel (2 October 2015). "It's elemental: art with good chemistry". Times online. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.

External links

• Official website

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• Alumni of the University of Cambridge
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• English male journalists
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• People associated with the Victoria and Albert Museum
• British science journalists
• 1959 births
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