author
Williams Haynes
1886–1970
A journalist and historian of chemistry, he turned the story of American industry into something lively and readable. He is best remembered for his sweeping multivolume history of the U.S. chemical industry and for writing about science, business, and everyday modern materials.
2 Audiobooks
The Airedale
by Williams Haynes
Sandhills sketches
by Williams Haynes
About the author
Born in Detroit on July 29, 1886, Williams Haynes built a career that crossed journalism, publishing, and the history of science. After working as a reporter and studying at Johns Hopkins University, he became known as a sharp observer of chemistry not just as a laboratory science, but as a force shaping modern industry and daily life.
Haynes wrote extensively on chemical economics and industrial development, and his best-known achievement is American Chemical Industry: A History, a six-volume work that helped document how the field grew in the United States. He also wrote books for general readers, including This Chemical Age, bringing technical subjects to a wider audience in a clear, approachable way.
Over the course of a long career, he served as an editor and publisher as well as an author, earning a place as an important interpreter of chemistry's business and historical side. He died in Stonington, Connecticut, on November 16, 1970.