This is a great story about the man who was obsessed with the incredible beauty of snowflakes, developing a way to photograph them, and eventually having his photos featured in national geographic. The public domain status does not give you the right to resell material unless you have access to the original source. This discovery was made by a man named wilson bentley, a farmer from vermont, who became affectionately known as snowflake bentley. Visit your local library or order from an online company a copy of wilson bentleys book, snow crystals. By the end of his life, bentley had photographed more than 5,000 snow crystals, released a book of his images, and wrote numerous. He first became interested in snow crystals as a teenager on his family farm. Wilson bentley is well known to readers here for his photomicrographs of snow crystals.
The first snowflake photographer, wilson bentley old. This is reference, not sitdownandread, but it is the classic collection of snow crystal photographs. Bentley s snowflakes cdrom and book dover electronic clip art by w. Bentley even sold 200 of his negatives to tiffanys in new york city, which used the snow crystal patterns in its jewelry designs. By age sixtysix with the help of other scientists, bentley had his pictures made into a book called snow crystals. Was ever a life history written in more dainty or fairylike hiero. Any child who has cut a foldedpaper snowflake will appreciate wilson bentleys infatuation with the beautiful and intricate designs of snow crystals. The bentley snow crystal collection of the buffalo museum of science is a digital library providing a highquality collection of stunning, unretouched images of wilson a. Bentley also sold his photographs to universities and published them in leading science magazines, including nature and the national geographic magazine. Wilson alwyn bentley from the earliest days of our childhood, many of us can remember hearing the phrase no two snowflakes are alike. It contained 2500 selected snow crystal photos plus 100 of frost and dew formation. The man who uncovered the secret lives of snowflakes the.
To the great beyond bentleys log entry on 7 december 1931 reads, cold north wind afternoon. Sources for the factual material are credited, and a final page features photographs of bentley at work and three of his actual snowflake slides. Bentley, popularly known as the snowflake man, was born on the family farm at. Bentley web site, which also describes the bentley museum in jericho, vermont.
Snowflake bentley by jacqueline briggs martin, mary. Wilson alwyn bentley february 9, 1865 december 23, 1931 was the first known. Horn book wilson bentley 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. Guide to snowflake bentley pdf file from weston wood productions. Offers valuable material not only to students of crystallography but also to those of the arts. And he determined that one day his camera would capture for others the wonder of the tiny crystal. 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. Wilson bentley introduced the world to his study of snow, but it didnt stop there. The new york times did you ever try to photograph a snowflake.
Wilson alwyn bentley 18651931, famous for his photomicrographs of snowflakes, prepared sets of glass lantern slides of dew, frost and ice crystals. Many of these sets found their way to colleges and universities around the united states. It bore the title snow crystals, and the text was supplied by william j. Wilson a bentley photographed 5,000 snowflakes in his lifetime and never found any two alikephotograph. The university of wisconsins department of atmospheric and oceanic sciences donated their collection to the schwerdtfeger library in 2000. Reviewed in the united states on december 20, 2010. This is a great book to introduce a unit on diversity. Bentleys proudest moment came in 1931 upon publication of his book snow crystals, which contained 2,453 of his photographs. These bentley photomicrographs are shared courtesy of the smithsonian institute. There was wilson bentleys classic 1931 reference, and ukichiro nakayas excellent 1954 text, but little else. The book contained more than 2400 snow crystal images, no two of them alike. Offers valuable material not only to students of crystallography but.
Got this book for my moms birthday to go along with bentley s book of snowflake photographs we love snowflakes and their fascinating designs. Snow crystals published in november 1931, but bentley didnt get to enjoy much of the acclaim. Humphrey was published by mcgrawhill in november 1931. The official poster of the snowflake bentley exhibit in. Bentley snow crystal collection a digital library providing a highquality collection of stunning, unretouched images of wilson a. At the age of sixtysix, a book of his work was published. His book, snow crystals, illustrated with 2,500 photographs was still the definitive volume on the subject matter, and he sold many of his slides to colleges and universities. Photographer of snow crystals history of photography monograph series. The first ever photographs of snowflakes wilson a bentley. Three centuries later the most extensive catalog of its time was made by the vermont farmer wilson bentley, who published the book snow crystals with william humphreys in 1931. Images of snow crystals taken by wilson alwyn bentley. It shows his incredible work and the most amazing snowflake images that one has ever seen. Wilson alwyn bentley february 9, 1865 december 23, 1931 was the first known photographer of snowflakes. Wilson alwyn bentley, dictionary of american biography.
The strange tale of the snowflake man art and design. From the time he was a small boy, wilson bentley saw snowflakes as small miracles. 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. Those words were written by wilson bentley in 1901 as part of an article for harpers magazine entitled the story of the snow crystals. Wilson bentley is still known as an expert on snowflakes, and made history with his love for snow. Media in category wilson bentley snow crystals the following 3 files are in this category, out of 3 total. Libbrecht notes that the techniques used by bentley to photograph snowflakes are essentially the same as those used today.
Sadly it was the last book he wrote before he died. This amazing book was written by wilson bentley snowflake bentley. Humphreys wrote the technical introduction and appeared as coauthor. Wilson bentley did not his photographs and thus they are in the public domain and free to use for any purpose. A few weeks later, on december 7, he wrote in his weather notebook. In 1931, the united states weather bureau now known as the national weather service published bentleys research and 2,600 of his photographs in a book titled snow crystals, which he cowrote.
Wilson bentley refined his photography, capturing the images of thousands of snowflakes, no two alike. It is done in only black and white as this book was published in the 1900s. Snow, however, was only one of the many water wonders that held his fascination 1. The work must be done rapidly in extreme cold, for even body heat can. Bentleys original glass slide photographs of snow crystals, and includes dynamic resources to further an. Wilson also released his book snow crystals in 1931, with 2000 of his photographs. As a youngster, he was so taken with these little sixsided ice crystals that his parents scraped together their savings to buy him a camera with a. Black and white, but these were made in the late 19th and early 20th. He became sick and died of pneumonia on december 23. Some of these wonders were made of liquid water, such as dew, and some were frozen water ice, like the snow crystal.
His book snow crystals was published by mcgrawhill shortly before his. This book brought the beauty and wonder of the vermont snow to people all over the world. Wilson bentley digital archives snowflake bentley museum. Bentleys original glass slide photographs of snow crystals. Plainspoken as a vermonters speech, jacqueline martins text is also lyrical. Snowflake bentley resources from carol hursts childrens. He did more than 5, 000 images of crystals in his lifetime. Snowflake bentley by jacqueline briggs martin 1998. It is no wonder that he earned the moniker snowflake bentley.
Bentley published his works in magazines, including national geographic, nature, popular science, and scientific american. The publication of this book, entitled snow crystals, introduced the world to the beauty, complexity, and diversity of snow crystals. Having continued his painstaking research, by the 1920s he had amassed a gallery of more than 5000 snowflake images, some 2400 of which were selected for publication in a book. He tried to draw what he saw through an old microscope given to him by his mother when he was fifteen. No materials or images from this or any other website may be resold in any form print or electronic. Listen to the online radiolab podcast, crystal bliss, to. Bentley was born on february 7, 1865, in jericho, vermont. Bentleys original glass slide photographs of snow crystals, and includes dynamic resources to further an appreciation and understanding of bentley and his work. About the bentley collection schwerdtfeger library home. Bentleys enthusiasm for photographing snowflakes was often misunderstood in his time, but his patience and determination revealed two important truths. Wilson bentley was one of the first who did photographs of snowflakes and fog with the help of selfmade photomicrographs. Bentley was a bachelor farmer whose hobby was photographing snow flakes wilson bentley first to postulate no two snowflakes are like through his study of snow crystals, capturing over 5000 unique images during his life. The story of snowflake bentley, the vermont farmer who.
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