In brief
Snowflakes

Snowflake man

28 February 2011

"Under the microscope, I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty; and it seemed a shame that this beauty should not be seen and appreciated by others. Every crystal was a masterpiece of design and no one design was ever repeated. When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost. Just that much beauty was gone, without leaving any record behind."

Wilson 'Snowflake' Bentley 1925 Many of us remember being told that no two snowflakes are alike. This discovery was made in the small town of Jericho, Vermont by Wilson A. Bentley. By adapting a microscope to a bellows camera, Bentley became the first person to photograph a single snow crystal in 1885.

During his lifetime, Bentley captured more than 5,000 snowflakes. After his 1931 book, 'Snow Crystals', which contained more than 2,400 of his photographs, he became affectionately known as 'Snowflake' Bentley.

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