Hugh Aldersey-Williams is an author, journalist, and curator.
Latest by this author
As France approached revolution in the late 18th century, architects Étienne-Louis Boullée and Claude-Nicolas Ledoux rejected the ornate Baroque and Rococo styles in favor of spheres, cubes, and pyramids, creating visionary designs that reimagined architecture and influenced generations of architects.
More about this author
Hugh Aldersey-Williams is a writer and curator. He is the author of Dutch Light: Christiaan Huygens and the Making of Science in Europe (Picador, 2020), as well as a cultural history of the chemical elements, Periodic Tales (Penguin, 2011), and The Adventures of Sir Thomas Browne in the 21st Century (Granta, 2015).
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Designing the Sublime
Boullée and Ledoux’s Architectural Revolution
Public Domain Review | January | 2025
In the late eighteenth century, architects Étienne-Louis Boullée and Claude-Nicolas Ledoux turned away from the frothy decoration of the Baroque and Rococo styles and sought out daring new geometries. Although many of their designs were not realized, they represent a visual memento of a revolutionary age.
You Have to Bang Them Over the Head With It
Co-authors: Patrick Barkham | Guardian | June | 2016
Patrick Barkham writes an account of an informal interview with the eccentric and orignal thinker Hugh Aldersey-Williams, shortly after the publication of the latter’s book Tide.
The Independent | July | 2006
The word ‘chemistry’ tends to summon images of toxicity or dull and dusty science labs. Aldersey-Williams urges us to reconsider a field of science that has its sexy side, citing the whiff of French perfume or the finely crafted aroma of gourmet dinners.
Publications by this author
Christiaan Huygens and the Making of Science in Europe
Pan Macmillan | October | 2021
This enchanting book is not only is an account of Christiaan Huygens’s remarkable life and career, but it is also the story of the birth of modern science.
The Curious Lives of the Elements
Penguin Books | January | 2011
This book reveals the amazing secrets of the elements, transforming the periodic table into a rich and entertaining history starring the building blocks of life on Earth.
Granta | January | 2015
An odd and delightful treatment of the life of Sir Thomas Browne, a seventeenth-century physician, philosopher, and naturalist. Aldersley-Williams takes Browne’s ideas and explores them from a 21st-century perspective as well as from the historical context in which they arose.
Media by this author
Interview | September | 2020
In this episode of Travels Through Time, the author and journalist Hugh Aldersey-Williams takes us back to the vibrant heart of the Dutch Golden Age. The year is 1655, and Christiaan Huygen, the greatest mathematician, astronomer, and physicist of the period, is about to discover one of Saturn’s moons.
