Wilson Bentley
American, 1865-1931
Snowflake, 1920, ca.
gelatin silver print
2 5/8 x 2 ¾ in. (sheet-hexagonal)
SBMA, Museum Purchase with funds provided by JGS
2008.16.1
"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 Bentley
RESEARCH PAPER
Wilson “Snowflake” Bentley photographed and printed more than 5,300 snowflakes over 47 years, starting at the age of nineteen. His recordings proved to his satisfaction that no two snowflakes are alike.
Bentley’s photographs capture the image of a 6 pointed or solid hexagon crystal. Six branch lines radiate from a flower-like center. The “branches” are deeply incised, with the look of fine plant-like leaves, fern-like fronds or even flower petals. These grow outward and sideways and almost touch each other from branch to branch. If you draw a line from tip to tip you find that the distances between them are equal. Snowflakes can vary in size. Some are small and others large and heavy. Bentley only chose the perfectly formed ones to photograph.
From his weather studies Bentley discovered that the flakes form in a cloud. Ice crystals are hexagonal and he recorded that snowflakes are always 6 or 12 sided, not 4, 5 or 8. While they fall from the clouds, they ride air currents up and down for an hour or more through regions of different temperatures, humidity and degrees of water vapor, causing variations. The electrical charges of water molecules influence the snowflakes’ growth and shape. The amount of charge on the surface seems to increase when the crystals grow, with the greatest charges possibly being on the delicately branched crystals. He deduced that knowing how randomly they form, it is extremely unlikely that two complex snow crystals will end up exactly alike.
Wilson Bentley was born in Jericho, Vermont on 1865 and lived and worked his whole life on his family farm near the Green Mountains. The average snow fall is 120 inches in this “snow belt” of the northeastern United States.
A curious boy with a passion for scientific observation, Willie Bentley taught himself how to use a telescope. His mother gave him his first microscope when he was 15. He used it to view much smaller objects than the universe. A natural experimentalist, he examined raindrops, blades of grass, ice, dew, frost and snow crystals. He was the first American scientist to measure raindrop size.
Bentley drew what he saw under the microscope, a common practice for scientists. Problems occurred when the snow melted before he could finish his drawing. With the right combination of microscope and camera, it took him more than two years of trial and error to capture a single snow crystal in 1885.
To replicate “Snowflake’s” process:
1. Stand outside in below freezing temperature for hours.
2. Choose widespread storms, which cover a lot of territory, or fierce blizzards as these furnish the most beautiful and perfect snowflakes forms.
3. Collect flakes that land on a black tray. Touch the middle of the flake with a broom straw to pick them up. Lift each one onto a glass slide.
4. Get your parents to buy you a compound microscope that you can turn at right angles to it’s base. Couple it to a camera bellows by means of a light-tight connection. Bentley advised that magnifications of from 8 to 60 diameters (64 to 3,600 times), will serve well. Hold the shutter open for one and a half minutes.
5. Cut away some of the black background of the printed image, as in the SBMA image above.
First reactions from the scientific community to his investigations were not positive. They believed that he was too young to accomplish these studies and make such an important conclusion; they wouldn’t believe that a 19 year old was such a capable scientist. And the town’s people of Jericho misunderstood this quiet, determined farmer. They wondered why the boy, Willie, spent so much time on something that was such an ordinary part of their lives. They did enjoy it however when he played the piano, organ, clarinet, coronet, violin, and composed music for the town marching band.
Bentley became the world’s leading authority on snow crystals and perfected the innovative photomicrographic techniques. Preserving and sharing his records, Bentley published many articles for Scientific American and National Geographic magazines and his photo micrographs were used by colleges throughout the world.
50 years after Bentley’s death, other scientists proved that he was correct and that no two snow crystals are alike. It took “Snowflake” Bentley’s courage, persistence, single focus, and warm clothes to keep making the photos that would allow snowflakes to live forever. Because of his love of working with snow crystals, he became affectionately known as "Snowflake" Bentley.
His Jericho tombstone reads “Snowflake Man”.
Prepared for the Santa Barbara Museum of Art Docent Council by Susan Billig, February, 2014.
Bibliography, Online Sources
Buffalo ( NY) Museum of Science. “The Bentley Snow Crystal Collection” Bibliography Online http://www.Sciencebuff.org
Jericho (Vermont) Historical Society. Bentley Exhibit and Website http://www.jerichohistoricalsociety.org
NOAA Photo Library.
http://www.photolib.noaa.gov
Snowflake Bentley Official Web Site
http://www.snowflakebentley.com
Smithsonian Archives. Stories From the Smithsonian. “Wilson A. Bentley: Pioneering Photographer of Snowflakes.”
http://www.Siarchives.si.edu/
Bibliography, Video Sources
WBZ-TV Boston's Mish Michaels. “The Snowflake Man”. Search:
http://www.squidoo.com
Youtube. “Wilson Snowflake Bentley Snowflakes in Motion”
http://www.youtube.com
Bibliography, Publications
Bentley, Wilson A. “Bentley's Snowflakes”. 576 Royalty Free Designs. CD-ROM and Book (Dover Electronic ClipArt), 2006
Bentley, Wilson A. “Snow Crystals”. Dover Publications Pictorial Archive, 1962
Bentley, Wilson A. “Snowflakes in Photographs”. Dover Publications Pictorial Archive, 2000
Blanchard, Duncan C. “The Snowflake Man: a Biography of Wilson A. Bentley”. McDonald&Woodward, 1998
Bibliography, Children
Fritts, Mary Bahr. (Also Bahr, Mary). “My Brother Loved Snowflakes: the Story of Wilson A. Bentley, the Snowflake Man”. Honesdale, PA : Boyds Mills Press, 2002.
Martin, Jacqueline Briggs. “Snowflake Bentley”. Scholastic, 1999 Illustrations by Mary Azarin. A charming and colorful biography illustrated with wood block prints. A Caldecott Medal winner for art work.
COMMENTS
From the earliest memories of our childhood, many of us can remember hearing the phrase "no two snowflakes are alike". This discovery was made in the small rural town of Jericho, Vermont by Wilson A. Bentley.
A self educated farmer, Bentley attracted world attention with his pioneering work in the area of photomicrography, most notably his extensive work with snow crystals (commonly known as snowflakes). By adapting a microscope to a bellows camera, and years of trial and error, he became the first person to photograph a single snow crystal in 1885.
He would go on to capture more than 5000 snowflakes during his lifetime, not finding any two alike. His snow crystal photomicrographs were acquired by colleges and universities throughout the world and he published many articles for magazines and journals including, Scientific American and National Geographic.
In 1931 his book "Snow Crystals", containing more than 2400 snow crystal images, was published by McGraw-Hill but has long been out of print. A soft cover copy, identical in all respects, can be obtained today from Dover Publications, Inc.. On December 23, 1931, Bentley died at the family farmhouse in Jericho. Because of his wonderful work with snow crystals, he became affectionately known as "Snowflake" Bentley.
- Snowflake Bentley, Jericho Historical Society, Jericho, Vermont, n.d.
http://www.snowflakebentley.com
SBMA CURATORIAL LABELS
This magical constellation of snowflakes is a portion of the legendary project of Wilson Bentley—who produced over 5,000 snowflake microphotographs. His commitment to the documentation of nature’s delicate crystal lace lasted over forty years. The passion which compelled Bentley’s studies led to his discovery that in fact, “no two snowflakes are alike.” As these ice crystals descend from the heavens, unique weather conditions contribute to their diverse architecture, nearly invisible to the common eye until “Snowflake Bentley” dedicated his photographic life to them. Made up of the simplest of elements, these natural creations have the elegance and monumentality of the stars. As Bentley joyously said, “…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.”
- Heavenly Bodies Exhibition, 2014