Search results for ""author hugh aldersey-williams""

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."

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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.

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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

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Un maravilloso libro de errancia y de paseo en el que vemos lo diferentes, y a la vez lo parecidos, que somos todavía de ese serenísimo y enigmático pionero de la ciencia y forjador del estilo literario, cuya prosa es una de las cimas de la literatura inglesa, si se atiende a Borges y a mi humilde persona.JAVIER MARÍASLa extraordinaria figura del médico, filósofo y escritor Sir Thomas Browne ha despertado la admiración de figuras como Virginia Woolf, Vladimir Nabokov o W. G. Sebald, en cuyas respectivas obras pueden rastrearse influencias de su espléndida escritura. En este ingenioso ensayo, mezcla de biografía, estudio etimológico e historia cultural, Aldersey-Williams rescata a Browne del siglo XVII y, a la par que celebra su inteligencia, examina con él las principales contradicciones intelectuales de su época, logrando así que nos replanteemos las supuestas certezas de nuestro propio tiempo. El desinteresado entusiasmo de Sir Thomas por el conocimiento de cualquier orden, des

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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, who is said to have drowned himself in his efforts to figure out the Greek tides, to the pioneering investigations into the role of the moon by Galileo and Newton, to the quest to understand and even control the tide in our own time. Throughout, Aldersey-Williams whisks the reader along on his travels in search of the most remarkable tidal phenomena. 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. Along the way, Aldersey-Williams delves into classic literary portrayals of the tide from Shakespeare to Dickens, Melville to Jules Verne. And he reveals the tidal truths behind the Homeric tale of Scylla and Charybdis, the biblical story of Moses parting the Red Sea, the conquests of Julius Caesar, the Boston Tea Party, and the D-Day landings in Normandy.

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'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.

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The story of British design told through works selected from the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Great Britain was the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution and the epicentre of the development of modern industrial design. This book - the fourth volume in the MoMA Design Series featuring works in the Museum's collection - explores this legacy, tracing the growth of British design from the eighteenth century to the Millennium Dome and beyond. In its more than two-hundred-year scope, British Design explores the Arts and Crafts Movement, the Spitfire and Hurricane fighter planes of World War II, the Mini car and Dyson vacuum cleaner, the 'Cool Britannia' cultural explosion in the late 1990s, and British designers' take on the digital devices that define entertainment and communication in the early twenty-first century. An introduction by Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art, provides an overview of design culture in Great Britain; an essay and timeline by Hugh Aldersey-Williams, curator, former design critic for The New Statesman, and author of World Design and New American Design, illuminates the masterpieces of modern British design superbly reproduced in the volume's plate section.

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