Hugh Aldersey-Williams

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.^[1]

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".^[1][2] 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".^[3] 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.^[4]

Aldersey-Williams contributed an essay on Sir Thomas Browne to The Society for Curious Thought.^{[citation needed]}

Aldersey-Williams has a lifetime hobby, since his teenage days, of collecting samples of the elements and setting them up in his home.^[2]

• 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.

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