His photographs and publications provide valuable scientific records of snow crystals and their many types. Bentley, popularly known as the snowflake man, was born on the family farm. Wilson alwyn snowflake bentley was the first known american photographer of snowflakes. The book is of great value both to students of ice forms and for textile and other designers who can use the natural designs of these snow crystals in their work. Bentley s snowflakes cdrom and book dover electronic clip art by w. It is done in only black and white as this book was published in the 1900s. Sources for the factual material are credited, and a final page features photographs of bentley at work and three of his actual snowflake slides. Details about his life, techniques of photomicrography, and a virtual tour.
Wilson alwyn bentley february 9, 1865 december 23, 1931 was the first known photographer of snowflakes. By the end of his life, bentley had photographed more than 5,000 snow crystals, released a book of his images, and wrote numerous. Sadly it was the last book he wrote before he died. He took pictures of hundreds of snowflakes each year and put them into a book called snow crystals. The man who uncovered the secret lives of snowflakes the.
Libbrecht notes that the techniques used by bentley to. The story of snowflake bentley, the vermont farmer who. For over forty years, wilson snowflake bentley 18651931 photographed thousands of individual snowflakes and perfected the innovative photomicrographic techniques. Wilson bentley 18651931 was fascinated by snow, in childhood and adulthood, and, practically speaking, is the one who discovered snow crystals, by photographing them in all their variation. He donated his collection of photomicrographs of snow crystals to the buffalo museum of science. Reviewed in the united states on december 20, 2010. Five hundred of his snowflake photos now reside in the smithsonian. Brief comments on the history of snow crystal research. He perfected a process of catching flakes on black velvet in such a way that their images could be captured before they either melted or sublimated kenneth g.
Did you know that wilson bentley was a farmer, a scientist, and a photographer. This amazing book was written by wilson bentley snowflake bentley. The first snow of the season fell on the day i visited wilson bentleys photography collection. If you want to know how this book was something special to look into at our house, check out the childrens book snowflake bentley, the story of this remarkable.721 1250 1206 898 123 659 1324 481 814 154 788 594 1506 950 723 1196 1514 49 1074 77 933 1228 818 300 692 295 239 361 182 727 1155 67 520 431 974 962 1303 467 1333 838 730 1096 579 463 1194 616 514 7