“I have yet found no exact duplicate. In this inexhaustible storehouse of crystal treasures, what a delight is in store for all future lovers of snowflakes, and of the beauty in nature.”
-Wilson Bentley
Since we’re in the throes of winter and we have snow on the ground, today I’m going to talk about Wilson Bentley, more popularly known as “Snowflake” Bentley.
Snowflake Bentley (1865-1931) was born in Jericho, Vermont, and lived and died all in the same house. By the time he was 15 years old, he already had a fascination with meteorology, specifically snowflakes and raindrops.
His mother gifted him a microscope, which he then used to peer at snowflakes he had caught and attempted to draw by hand. However, this proved to be frustrating because the snowflakes would melt before he had a chance to finish drawing them. He refined his technique over the years, ultimately coming up with something that worked: catching the flakes on black velvet and using light-sensitive glass plates for his microscope.
At some point he acquired a camera and was able to photograph snowflakes with great detail. He eventually earned the nickname “Snowflake” Bentley after his work became more popular, and was writing articles for National Geographic, Popular Science, Nature, and Scientific American. Here is a complete bibliography of all his work.
In 1898, Bentley began making efforts to record the size of raindrops and published “Studies of Rain Drops” in Popular Science magazine in 1900. He discussed his theory of the dual origin of raindrops, which he stated came either from melted snow in the sky, or on their own without the involvement of snow. How did he measure them? He took a pan of flour that was about an inch deep, took it out in the rain for collection, then he would let the formed dough pellets dry out, whereupon they could be measured. He was the first American to do this, and his effective method is essentially still used today.
One article that Bentley wrote was this article in 1902, titled, “Studies Among the Snow Crystals During the Winter of 1901-2, With Additional Data Collected During Previous Winters and Twenty-Two Half-Tone Plates,” published for the Monthly Weather Review. In it, he describes weather patterns and atmospheric conditions, along with his thoughts on how the “snow crystals” were formed. He was not a scientist and received flack because of this, but that didn’t stop him from taking the best photographs of snowflakes, where others failed, including other scientists. The link above leads you to the actual article in its entirety.
His first book collaboration was in 1907 with Jean M. Thompson, titled, Water Wonders Every Child Should Know. Jean was a NYC divorcee and visited bachelor Wilson many times to collaborate on this book, which many in the area saw those visits as scandalous. His photographs and ideas permeate her book.
Snow Crystals was published in 1931 by Bentley and William J. Humphreys of the U.S. Weather Bureau and had 2,500 snowflakes in it. The title was later changed to Snowflakes in Photographs, which I bought for our daughter several years ago. It’s a fun book to peruse, and at one point I played a game with her where we would each choose our two favorite snowflakes on each page, then say which ones they were to compare and discuss why we liked them.
A few months after Snow Crystals was published, Bentley died of pneumonia at his house at the age of 66. This is not surprising, considering that he spent much of his time outside in frigid temperatures.
Nowadays, you can visit the Snowflake Bentley Exhibit for free at the Old Red Mill in Jericho, VT, but be sure to check their hours ahead of time on their website, as it’s solely run by volunteers!
Snowflake Bentley took over 5,000 photographs of snowflakes in his lifetime. A huge accomplishment!
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