In 1885, Wilson Bentley was the first to successfully photograph single showflakes. He was a farmer with little formal education that grew up in Vermont in an area called the "Snowbelt." It is called the Snowbelt because the place gets around 120' of snow each year. As a young boy Wilson was fascinated with snowflakes and he studied the individual snowflakes and even drew their hexagonal shapes. At the age of 17 his parents bought him a camera. After many trials and errors, he was finally able to capture the beauty and exactness of each unique ice crystal with a microscope attached to his bellows camera. With this camera he managed to photograph thousands of snowflakes. You can enjoy Wilson Bentley's beautiful snowflake photographs, as well as many other snowflake related items which are available to purchase on the website devoted to Snowflake Bentley. Click here for the link.
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 1925The children's book, titled SNOWFLAKE BENTLEY, recounts the inspiring life of Wilson Bentley and won the 1999 Caldecott Medal for its beautiful wood block print illustrations. It is a book that combines both wonderful illustrations with science, a combination not often seen. To me, the book teaches the merits of tenacity, the beauty and wonder as well as the science of ice crystals, and the uniqueness of our universe, no matter how small and insignificant it may seem at first- all good things for a child to know.
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