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First snowflakes ever photographed in 1885

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bikenhike
Posts: 134
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2010 5:53 pm

First snowflakes ever photographed in 1885

Unread post by bikenhike »

Here is a story from the Smithsonian about the 1st snowflakes ever photographed:

Wilson A. Bentley became fascinated with the crystalline structure of individual snowflakes on his parent’s Vermont farm. By adapting a microscope to a bellows camera, and after years of trial and error, he became the first person to photograph a single snowflake in 1885.

In 1903, he sent 500 prints of his snowflakes to the Smithsonian, hoping they might be of interest to Secretary Samuel P. Langley. These images are now part of the Smithsonian Institution Archives.

Bentley’s book Snow Crystals, with more than 2,400 snowflake images, was published in 1931. This photomicrograph and more than 5,000 others supported the belief that no two snowflakes are alike, leading scientists to study his work and publish it in numerous scientific articles and magazines.

This photo is one of 137 million artifacts, works of art and specimens in the Smithsonian’s collection. It is not on public display.

For more photos of snowflakes and info:
http://collections.si.edu/search/result ... ves&dsort=
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mike
Posts: 1442
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2009 9:20 pm
Location: Ravena, NY

Re: First snowflakes ever photographed in 1885

Unread post by mike »

When I was taking 3rd year Physical Chemistry in college, one of my professor told me that there are chemist that devote their lives to studying the formation of snowflakes. Still a lot of information that is unknown.
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