Wilson Bentley was a farmer in Jericho, Vermont, in the northeast region of the US, where snowfall averages about 120in (300cm) each year. On his 15th birthday in 1880, Bentley was given a microscope by his parents and he used it to study snow crystals. He was spellbound by what he saw. “Every crystal was a masterpiece of design; and no one design was ever repeated,” he described.
Whenever it snowed he rushed out to collect snow crystals and worked for hours in the cold wearing a coat, gloves and hat looking down his microscope, but he was frustrated that the ice crystals melted before he could draw them completely. He began experimenting with photographing the ice crystals — a feat never attempted before.
He
