While most of his articles discussed snow crystals, he also photographed and wrote about frost, dew, and other atmospheric phenomena. Throughout his life, he also published 60 articles in various scientific and popular journals. Humphreys, a physicist with the US Weather Bureau, published these findings in Snow Crystals, a volume containing 2300 of his photographs for all to study and enjoy. From gathering this large collection of snowflakes, Bentley learned that every single snowflake was unique and in the year of his death he, along with William J. The apparatus was set up outside so that the delicate specimens would not melt, and after a minute and a half exposure, he captured the image of a snowflake.įrom that first photograph in 1885, Bentley photographed more than 5000 snow crystals until his death in 1931. Once a snowflake landed, he carefully handled it with a feather to place it under the lens. Bentley stood in the winter cold for hours at a time waiting patiently until he caught falling flakes. After many failed attempts at drawing the details of the snowflakes, he connected his camera to a microscope in order to create photos that showed intricate details of each snow crystal. However, Bentley developed the equipment and techniques to take photographs of individual snowflakes. Snowflakes or snow crystals are difficult to photograph because they melt so quickly. Four year later, in 1885, equipped with both his microscope and a camera, Bentley made the first successful photograph of a snowflake.īentley was a pioneer in "photomicrography," the photographing of very small objects, especially of snowflakes. Bentley developed an interest in snow crystals after he received a microscope for his fifteenth birthday. He kept a record of the weather conditions every day and was fascinated by raindrops. He loved to study butterflies, leaves, and spider webs. From the time he was a small boy, Bentley was fascinated by the natural world around him. Taught by his mother, he lived and worked on his family farm located in the "Snowbelt," where the annual snow fall was about 120 inches. Bentley was born in 1865 in Jericho, Vermont. Five hundred of his snowflake photos now reside in the Smithsonian Institution Archives, offered by Bentley in 1903 to protect against "all possibility of loss and destruction, through fire or accident." His photographs and publications provide valuable scientific records of snow crystals and their many types. Bentley.įor over forty years, Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley (1865–1931) photographed thousands of individual snowflakes and perfected the innovative photomicrographic techniques. "My collection far superior in both number & beauty & I might add interest, to that of any other collection in the world.," Wilson A.
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