Hugh Aldersey-Williams
@hoooaw.bsky.social
Dutch Light: Christiaan Huygens and the Making of Science in Europe, Tide, The Adventures of Sir Thomas Browne in the 21st Century, Periodic Tales and other things.
Reposted by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Ha! Well he wasn't wrong, I don't think. A form of collective hysteria, he told Klug. John Maddox – an anniversary maniac – began preparing the 50th anniversary at the time of the 40th. Sometimes he hit the nail on the head, though, as in this cover of Nature from the *21st* anniversary:
November 19, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Ha! Well he wasn't wrong, I don't think. A form of collective hysteria, he told Klug. John Maddox – an anniversary maniac – began preparing the 50th anniversary at the time of the 40th. Sometimes he hit the nail on the head, though, as in this cover of Nature from the *21st* anniversary:
Prompted to check by @matthewcobb.bsky.social quoting Crick as writing, a propos DNA, ‘it never occurred to me that anyone could be so crazy as to celebrate the 40th anniversary of a molecule’!
Just missed it, damn. The 40th anniversary of the discovery of buckminsterfullerene last Friday: www.nature.com/articles/318...
C60: Buckminsterfullerene - Nature
Before 1985, it was generally accepted that elemental carbon exists in two forms, or allotropes: diamond and graphite. Then, Kroto et al. identified the signature of a new, stable form of carbon that ...
www.nature.com
November 19, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Prompted to check by @matthewcobb.bsky.social quoting Crick as writing, a propos DNA, ‘it never occurred to me that anyone could be so crazy as to celebrate the 40th anniversary of a molecule’!
Just missed it, damn. The 40th anniversary of the discovery of buckminsterfullerene last Friday: www.nature.com/articles/318...
C60: Buckminsterfullerene - Nature
Before 1985, it was generally accepted that elemental carbon exists in two forms, or allotropes: diamond and graphite. Then, Kroto et al. identified the signature of a new, stable form of carbon that ...
www.nature.com
November 19, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Just missed it, damn. The 40th anniversary of the discovery of buckminsterfullerene last Friday: www.nature.com/articles/318...
My downstairs reading is Matthew Cobb’s brilliant Crick. Upstairs, rereading Frankenstein (prompted by the del Toro film). It’s throwing up some interesting parallels!
November 19, 2025 at 9:18 AM
My downstairs reading is Matthew Cobb’s brilliant Crick. Upstairs, rereading Frankenstein (prompted by the del Toro film). It’s throwing up some interesting parallels!
Reposted by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Every year, thousands are rescued after getting trapped by the tide. This research finds misconceptions, not misjudgment, are often to blame. Let’s make “tidal literacy” the new water safety essential.
Martin Austin reports. From The Conversation -- thanks!
eastangliabylines.co.uk/environment/...
Martin Austin reports. From The Conversation -- thanks!
eastangliabylines.co.uk/environment/...
Misunderstanding the tide puts millions at risk
Tidal literacy is a matter of life and death. But many people do not understand tides, and many only survive because of the rescue services
eastangliabylines.co.uk
November 18, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Every year, thousands are rescued after getting trapped by the tide. This research finds misconceptions, not misjudgment, are often to blame. Let’s make “tidal literacy” the new water safety essential.
Martin Austin reports. From The Conversation -- thanks!
eastangliabylines.co.uk/environment/...
Martin Austin reports. From The Conversation -- thanks!
eastangliabylines.co.uk/environment/...
Not sure I’ve done quite the ‘proper analysis’ called for here, but I did something in www.hughalderseywilliams.com/books-findings
November 13, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Not sure I’ve done quite the ‘proper analysis’ called for here, but I did something in www.hughalderseywilliams.com/books-findings
Reposted by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
He's back!
November 12, 2025 at 4:05 PM
He's back!
Reposted by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
What the internet was made for. Delightful.
Loving today's news that the mysterious "fedora man" outside the Louvre heist was actually a 15-year-old museum visitor who dresses like a 1940s French detective all the time, just because. apnews.com/article/louv...
Fedora man unmasked: Meet the teen behind the Louvre mystery photo
Fifteen-year-old Pedro Elias Garzon Delvaux has become an internet sensation after an Associated Press photo captured him outside the Louvre on the day of a crown jewels heist.
apnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 4:42 PM
What the internet was made for. Delightful.
Reposted by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
The truly maddening thing is that, unlike when I was a young man in science and the materials and engineering just weren’t there yet, the future is *right there.* The problem is *solved*. What’s holding us back is not just greed, but this bizarre nostalgia, an obsession with petro- masculinity.
Australia has so much electricity from solar power that it is going to start offering free electricity to everyone for at least three hours during the day as the wholesale price of power goes negative
electrek.co/2025/11/04/a...
electrek.co/2025/11/04/a...
Australia has so much solar that it's offering everyone free electricity
Australia's extensive solar power penetration makes so much energy that the government wants to offer free electricity at peak hours.
electrek.co
November 6, 2025 at 2:08 PM
The truly maddening thing is that, unlike when I was a young man in science and the materials and engineering just weren’t there yet, the future is *right there.* The problem is *solved*. What’s holding us back is not just greed, but this bizarre nostalgia, an obsession with petro- masculinity.
Reposted by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Hard to put a date on when the political and media normalizing of blatant racism and far-right views began, but surely it was something of a pivotal moment when the world's richest man gave a Nazi salute and all the media said "Well it's ambiguous". (As did the Royal Society, it seems.)
October 28, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Hard to put a date on when the political and media normalizing of blatant racism and far-right views began, but surely it was something of a pivotal moment when the world's richest man gave a Nazi salute and all the media said "Well it's ambiguous". (As did the Royal Society, it seems.)
I can’t believe it’s been five years:
Discoveries!
Inventions!!
New theories!!!
Bitter priority disputes. International wars. Fickle patrons. Grim executions. Enormous wigs.
www.amazon.co.uk/Dutch-Light-...
Discoveries!
Inventions!!
New theories!!!
Bitter priority disputes. International wars. Fickle patrons. Grim executions. Enormous wigs.
www.amazon.co.uk/Dutch-Light-...
Dutch Light
Buy Dutch Light Main Market by Aldersey-Williams, Hugh (ISBN: 9781509893355) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.
www.amazon.co.uk
October 24, 2025 at 11:56 AM
I can’t believe it’s been five years:
Discoveries!
Inventions!!
New theories!!!
Bitter priority disputes. International wars. Fickle patrons. Grim executions. Enormous wigs.
www.amazon.co.uk/Dutch-Light-...
Discoveries!
Inventions!!
New theories!!!
Bitter priority disputes. International wars. Fickle patrons. Grim executions. Enormous wigs.
www.amazon.co.uk/Dutch-Light-...
Reposted by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Happy birthday and deathday to 17th-century polymath Sir Thomas Browne (1605–1682). See our Browne related content here, including essays by @HoooAW and Claire Preston: https://publicdomainreview.org/tags/thomas-browne #OnThisDay #OTD
October 19, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Happy birthday and deathday to 17th-century polymath Sir Thomas Browne (1605–1682). See our Browne related content here, including essays by @HoooAW and Claire Preston: https://publicdomainreview.org/tags/thomas-browne #OnThisDay #OTD
Happy birthday (and death day) to Sir Thomas Browne, who had the foresight to write about this particular coincidence.
His advice is as good now as ever: ‘Though the World be Histrionical, and most Men live Ironically, yet be thou what thou singly art, and personate only thy self.’
His advice is as good now as ever: ‘Though the World be Histrionical, and most Men live Ironically, yet be thou what thou singly art, and personate only thy self.’
October 19, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Happy birthday (and death day) to Sir Thomas Browne, who had the foresight to write about this particular coincidence.
His advice is as good now as ever: ‘Though the World be Histrionical, and most Men live Ironically, yet be thou what thou singly art, and personate only thy self.’
His advice is as good now as ever: ‘Though the World be Histrionical, and most Men live Ironically, yet be thou what thou singly art, and personate only thy self.’
Reposted by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
It's also not "just another" extinction, it's the first from mainland Europe in centuries. CENTURIES.
And there will be others within our lifetime.
That's biodiversity loss.
We'll never hear this sound, ever again xeno-canto.org/398794
And there will be others within our lifetime.
That's biodiversity loss.
We'll never hear this sound, ever again xeno-canto.org/398794
XC398794 Slender-billed Curlew (Numenius tenuirostris)
Awful wind noise in the original!
See sonogram and notes of the recording circumstances on p12 of Gretton A. (1991) The ecology and conservation of the Slender-billed Curlew (Numenius tenuirostris). ...
xeno-canto.org
October 10, 2025 at 9:00 AM
It's also not "just another" extinction, it's the first from mainland Europe in centuries. CENTURIES.
And there will be others within our lifetime.
That's biodiversity loss.
We'll never hear this sound, ever again xeno-canto.org/398794
And there will be others within our lifetime.
That's biodiversity loss.
We'll never hear this sound, ever again xeno-canto.org/398794
Reposted by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Well, it's official. After our paper last year (onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....), the Slender-billed Curlew is officially declared Extinct today.
Scientists dream of describing new species, not writing their obituary and epitaph, knowing that they are gone forever #ornithology
Scientists dream of describing new species, not writing their obituary and epitaph, knowing that they are gone forever #ornithology
October 10, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Well, it's official. After our paper last year (onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....), the Slender-billed Curlew is officially declared Extinct today.
Scientists dream of describing new species, not writing their obituary and epitaph, knowing that they are gone forever #ornithology
Scientists dream of describing new species, not writing their obituary and epitaph, knowing that they are gone forever #ornithology
Reposted by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
A searchable works list has been released to identify the authors’ works that were stolen by US Corporation Anthropic, to train its AI models. It includes UK authors whose works were copied without their permission or payment.
October 2, 2025 at 2:43 PM
A searchable works list has been released to identify the authors’ works that were stolen by US Corporation Anthropic, to train its AI models. It includes UK authors whose works were copied without their permission or payment.
Reposted by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
A strange statement typical of our times: if a Fellow publicly espouses and acts from values contrary to the freedoms the Society finds important to scientific research, expelling that Fellow seems to be acting in the best interests of science by the Society’s own lights.
"I am increasingly concerned over threats to the values that allow science to flourish." Read the full statement from the President of the Royal Society Sir Adrian Smith: royalsociety.org/news/2025/10...
A statement from the President of the Royal Society | Royal Society
A statement from the President of the Royal Society regarding threats to the values that allow science to flourish.
royalsociety.org
October 1, 2025 at 5:32 PM
A strange statement typical of our times: if a Fellow publicly espouses and acts from values contrary to the freedoms the Society finds important to scientific research, expelling that Fellow seems to be acting in the best interests of science by the Society’s own lights.
RIP Tony Harrison. When I was writing a thing about the German WW1 chemist Fritz Haber, I wrote to him in relation to his then recent play Square Rounds. He sent back this typed postcard, patiently answering my questions, and ending up, ‘I doubt it will be revived in my lifetime. Afterwards, maybe!’
September 27, 2025 at 5:47 PM
RIP Tony Harrison. When I was writing a thing about the German WW1 chemist Fritz Haber, I wrote to him in relation to his then recent play Square Rounds. He sent back this typed postcard, patiently answering my questions, and ending up, ‘I doubt it will be revived in my lifetime. Afterwards, maybe!’
If, like me and, apparently, Rembrandt, you can’t draw dogs, then copy someone else’s drawing . . .
quite cool-
a young woman curator from the Rijksmuseum went to Middelburg on her day off, and happened to notice that a dog in a painting there was identical to one in the Night Watch. It turned out Rembrandt had copied it line for line, and no-one ever noticed before
#plagiarism
nos.nl/l/2583719
a young woman curator from the Rijksmuseum went to Middelburg on her day off, and happened to notice that a dog in a painting there was identical to one in the Night Watch. It turned out Rembrandt had copied it line for line, and no-one ever noticed before
#plagiarism
nos.nl/l/2583719
September 23, 2025 at 11:57 AM
If, like me and, apparently, Rembrandt, you can’t draw dogs, then copy someone else’s drawing . . .
Reposted by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Tylenol/paracetamol and #scicomm - what is the strategy? Is there a strategy? Or is even firefighting wrong in this context? makingsciencepublic.com/2025/08/09/f...
From dissemination to firefighting: The new reality of science communication?
Three things happened recently in my Bluesky timeline which made me think about the fate of science communication. In this post I’ll use these brief glimpses into science communication activities, …
makingsciencepublic.com
September 23, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Tylenol/paracetamol and #scicomm - what is the strategy? Is there a strategy? Or is even firefighting wrong in this context? makingsciencepublic.com/2025/08/09/f...
Reposted by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Notice, #earlymodern #skystorians, the logo at the middle of the photo? The VOC (Dutch East India Company).
All the more reason to reckon with the legacies of these companies and how they integrate (or don't) with shifting ideas of globalisation, integration, capitalism, and national identity.
All the more reason to reckon with the legacies of these companies and how they integrate (or don't) with shifting ideas of globalisation, integration, capitalism, and national identity.
Onderzoeker over geweld in Den Haag: ‘Extreemrechts gedachtegoed wordt normaal. Dan krijg je dit’
Onderzoeker over geweld in Den Haag: ‘Extreemrechts gedachtegoed wordt normaal. Dan krijg je dit’
www.volkskrant.nl
September 22, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Notice, #earlymodern #skystorians, the logo at the middle of the photo? The VOC (Dutch East India Company).
All the more reason to reckon with the legacies of these companies and how they integrate (or don't) with shifting ideas of globalisation, integration, capitalism, and national identity.
All the more reason to reckon with the legacies of these companies and how they integrate (or don't) with shifting ideas of globalisation, integration, capitalism, and national identity.
Love this picture. I used in Dutch Light as illustrative of the Huygenses’ household music-making (although Constantijn Huygens played the theorbo, and there isn’t one here).
A family that plays together, stays together! Family harmony (including grandparents & various cousins on the wall) painted in 1635 by Jan Miense Molenaer. Today is his day.
September 19, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Love this picture. I used in Dutch Light as illustrative of the Huygenses’ household music-making (although Constantijn Huygens played the theorbo, and there isn’t one here).
Reposted by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
21st century Britain
where it's illegal to project an image on a wall
but not illegal to supply weapons to mass murdering genocidal psychopaths
where it's illegal to project an image on a wall
but not illegal to supply weapons to mass murdering genocidal psychopaths
September 17, 2025 at 7:58 AM
21st century Britain
where it's illegal to project an image on a wall
but not illegal to supply weapons to mass murdering genocidal psychopaths
where it's illegal to project an image on a wall
but not illegal to supply weapons to mass murdering genocidal psychopaths
Slightly diminish a book:
Drive Your Car over the Mini Roundabout near the Cemetery
Drive Your Car over the Mini Roundabout near the Cemetery
Slightly diminish a book: Pride and a Bit Biased
Slightly diminish a book: Murder on the Gatwick Express
September 8, 2025 at 8:04 AM
Slightly diminish a book:
Drive Your Car over the Mini Roundabout near the Cemetery
Drive Your Car over the Mini Roundabout near the Cemetery
Reposted by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Asylum seekers can now volunteer in Norfolk thanks to two local charities, New Routes Integration and Voluntary Norfolk.
Fantastic news for International Charity Day
Fantastic news for International Charity Day
New Norfolk partnership helps asylum seekers volunteer
In a win-win process, asylum seekers in Norfolk do great work as volunteers to help make their communities better
eastangliabylines.co.uk
September 5, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Asylum seekers can now volunteer in Norfolk thanks to two local charities, New Routes Integration and Voluntary Norfolk.
Fantastic news for International Charity Day
Fantastic news for International Charity Day