The Snowflake Man: A Biography of Wilson A. Bentley

By Duncan C. Blanchard

Book Overview

This is a biography of Wilson Alwyn Bentley, the farmer from Jericho, Vermont, who took over five thousand photomicrographs of ice, dew, frost, and -- especially -- snow crystals. Although his... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0939923718
• ISBN13: 9780939923717
• Release Date: July 1998
• Publisher: McDonald and Woodward Publishing Company
• Length: 237 Pages
• Weight: 0.91 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

To Preserve Nature's Designs for all the World to See.

Wilson A. Bentley rarely left Jericho, Vermont, but his contributions to meteorology and his extraordinary photomicrographs of snow crystals reach far and wide. In 1885, at the age of 19, Bentley became the first person to successfully photograph a snowflake. A lifetime of dedication -not to say obsession- to preserving the beauty of ephemeral snow crystals produced over 5,000 impressive snowflake images. Even now, Bentley's images are found on textiles, paper products, jewelry, and every sort of graphic art. Atmospheric scientist and author Duncan Blanchard has pieced together Bentley's story as best as possible with relatively little surviving documentation of his personal life. Of course, to Bentley, photographing snowflakes and studying atmospheric phenomena was his personal life. He was passionately devoted to it. "The Snowflake Man" begins with a little Bentley family history, then follows Wilson's life and work from his birth in 1865 to his death in 1931 at age 66, shortly after the publication of his wonderful "Snow Crystals", which brought the best of his vast collection of snow crystal photos to book form. Bentley lived his entire life on his family's 4-generational farm and made his photographs in the barn, washing his glass plates in a brook, making copy negative with an oil lantern and contact prints by sunlight. He applied the same methodical perfectionism to recording the weather and studying the formation of raindrops and frost, among other atmospheric water phenomenon. Many of Bentley's contributions to meteorology were recognized at the time, but science took a few decades to catch up with his pioneering work in cloud physics. Duncan Blanchard has written a sympathetic biography of Wilson Bentley, a man who suffered constant derision for his scientific obsession that was simply unproductive and out of place in a farming community. His spectacular photomicrographs opened the door to professional respect and, eventually, popular fame. This biography is more straightforward than eloquent, and Blanchard jumps to too many conclusions about Bentley's thoughts and his family. But the book is very readable and contains as much information on Wilson Bentley as anyone is going to find. There is an index in the back as well as a list of all of the known articles that Bentley authored in his lifetime.

A fitting tribute for one man's life long obsession

It is said that no two snowflakes are alike; the same holds true for the obsessions that drive the human spirit. Some we control, others control us. Wilson A. Bentley, an eccentric Vermont farmer, gave in to his fascination with snowflakes and spent his entire life documenting their myriad forms. His unprecedented and starkly beautiful collection of literally thousands of photographs of snowflakes taught the world just how unique these ice crystals really are, and how one man could stubbornly pursue one microscopic slice of knowledge over the entire course of his life. Bentley lived and died bewitched by atmospheric process. As a teenager, he built by hand the photographic equipment that would later gain him some measure of fame, often incorporating found materials - such as straws from a broom - into the rigors of his study. Dismissed by most as a harmless crank, his work was groundbreaking, leading to a revolution in understanding. In The Snowflake Man, author Duncan S. Blanchard uses his professional training as a meteorologist and physicist to commemorate the labor of love that drove Bentley. The writing is, at best, of limited merit but in some odd way that only serves to make the images of Bentley - a confirmed bachelor - hunched over his photographic equipment all the more poignant. What is clear is that Mr. Blanchard knows his subject matter well and was no doubt inspired in his own career by the unwavering dedication, or obsession, of the odd and all but forgotten researcher. Like Bentley's favorite subject matter, the book itself will quickly melt away - it is a slim effort that can be read in one sitting. The photographs, now almost a century old, are still remarkable though. Most compelling, however, is the insight it offers into obsession which will linger long after the last page. It is a worthy and recommended read if only to honor the fierce, undying commitment of the snow flake man.

Unique Education

This book, as is snowflakes, is very unique. Illustrations are fantastic and tell a story of their own!

Warmest possible treatment of a delightfully chilly subject

Author Blanchard brings humor, life, and compelling energy to an eccentric and an era previously hidden under a thick layer of (snow)dust. Bentley, generally considered an eccentric -- when considered at all -- was actually a dedicated scientist with an artist's eye and heart. What could have been dull scientific treatise actually reads with the smooth pull of a good novel.