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Concept
Timeline of snowflake research
Summary
The hexagonal snowflake, a crystalline formation of ice, has intrigued people throughout history. This is a chronology of interest and research into snowflakes. Artists, philosophers, and scientists have wondered at their shape, recorded them by hand or in photographs, and attempted to recreate hexagonal snowflakes.
Wilson Alwyn Bentley (February 9, 1865 – December 23, 1931), also known as Snowflake Bentley, was an American meteorologist and photographer, who was the first known person to take detailed photographs of snowflakes and record their features.[1] He perfected a process of catching flakes on black velvet in such a way that their images could be captured before they either melted or sublimated.
or - Han Ying (韓嬰) compiled the anthology Han shi waizhuan, which includes a passage that contrasts the pentagonal symmetry of flowers with the hexagonal symmetry of snow. This is discussed further in the Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era.
1250 - Albertus Magnus offers what is believed to be the oldest detailed description of snow.
1555 - Olaus Magnus publishes the earliest snowflake diagrams in Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus.
1611 - Johannes Kepler, in Strenaseu De Nive Sexangula, attempts to explain why snow crystals are hexagonal.
1637 - René Descartes' Discourse on the Method includes hexagonal diagrams and a study for the crystallization process and conditions for snowflakes.
1660 - Erasmus Bartholinus, in his De figura nivis dissertatio, includes sketches of snow crystals.
1665 - Robert Hooke observes snow crystals under magnification in Micrographia.
1675 - Friedrich Martens, a German physician, catalogues 24 types of snow crystal.
1681 - Donato Rossetti categorizes snow crystals in La figura della neve.
1778 - Dutch theologian Johannes Florentius Martinet diagrams precise sketches of snow crystals.
1796 - Shiba Kōkan publishes sketches of ice crystals under a microscope.
1820 - William Scoresby's An account of the Arteic Regions includes snow crystals by type.
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