0:00

Patrick: Welcome back to another installment of Nature Up North podcast, Naturally Speaking.

 

0:21 

P: You are here today with host Pat Chase and Roisin Creedon-Carey.

 Please introduce yourself.

 

0:26

Roisin: Hi Pat.

 My name is Roisin. I'm a digital media intern and I'm really excited to be here today.

 

0:33

P: As am I 

Now, Roisin, can you explain to us a little bit what we're going to be talking about today?

 

0:39

R:Yeah, Pat.

 So, as we find ourselves in the depths of winter here in the North Country, I personally cannot help but wish for war, warmer, longer sunnier days. I've lived here for 20 plus years and I'm just not a fan of the winter. I've been searching for a story to whisk me into a world of science and mystery for at least the month of November to March and I'd love to share one with you today.

 

1:02

P: Well, I think I've got someone that can help you out. Have you heard of this fella named Snowflake Bentley?

 

1:08

R: Have I ever Patrick?

could you tell our listeners a little bit about who this magical man is?

 

1:15

P: Of course.

So, Mr Snowflake Bentley also known as by his real name, Wilson Bentley was an American meteorologist and photographer who was the first known person to take detailed photographs of snowflakes and record their intricate features.

 

1:33

R: Mr. Bentley was born in Jericho Vermont in 1865 on February 9th. just like many other aquariuses. He was considered cold and aloof, although this is a modern adaptation of zodiac signs, which ironically would set him up perfectly for success in his field.

 

1:53

P: Wow, how relevant that is crazy.

Well, although he was a farmer by his trade, so kind of crazy how that all turned out.

 

2:03

P:But by the age of 20 Bentley became the first known person to capture a single snow crystal in his work of photomicrograph.

His work has since made him a household name in most of the Northeast and New England region.

 

2:19

P: His photographs created an in depth study of all snow crystals. Throughout his life, he would capture a multitude of snow crystal images and an important finding that was relevant to him is that he found that no two snowflakes were ever alike, which was really unique.

 

2:37

R: So the way in which Bentley went about this is he would capture a snowflake on the surface and then he would connect his camera to his microscope in order to take these photos that show intricate detail of each snow crystal. In order to do this, he would stand in the cold hours in the winter for hours and hours for a while.

 

2:55

R:But Patrick, am I correct to think that for the late 1800s, this was advanced meteorology?

 

3:00

P: yeah, certainly.

I mean, meteorology has been around for a long time, basically, as long as humans have been alive, the writings of meteorology date back to about 340 BCE to the time of Aristotle where he actually wrote a book called Meteorologica. However, other sources say that meteorological studies started in India as early as 3000 BCE. Since the inception of meteorology, there have been writings and experiments to test hypotheses.

However, Bentley was one of the first scientists to capture his findings in something other than a book, which was really unique and really telling for the time where photography and photograph technology was really developing and coming into its own.

 

3:47

R: Yeah, he was really a pioneer in his field.

But the funny thing is he never went to school at least until he was 14. But all of his findings were in high demand from all learning institutions in the Northeast.

 

4:00

P: Well, I can certainly imagine, I mean, capturing a snowflake in photography form for the first time is pretty incredible. But while we're speaking about it, you know, what, what actually is a snowflake?

 

4:13

R: Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't tell you earlier, Patrick, a snowflake is usually composed of many ice crystals that collide and stick together as they fall. This has to de deal with atmospheric temperature and precipitation. In order to actually create snow but almost always individual ice crystals can be found in any snowfall. Sometimes when it snowing lightly, the air contains a multi multitude of twinkling ice crystals which drift slowly earthward to produce a blanket of snow.

 

4:41

P: Wow, that's very interesting and perfectly relevant for this Nature Nugget installment guys. So guys, today's Nature Nugget, we are going to be explaining how you can capture your own snowflake much like Mr Bentley. 

 

P: Do you want to take it away?

4:57

R: Thank you.

So Patrick, I've only done this once and one time I failed completely, but my other attempt at this was successful, although the picture itself wasn't great. So you can do this with any varying level of skill and material. You'll need a microscope or a phone or a lens of some sort that will help you view these a piece of paper that's dark or really any material that you can use to catch a snowflake that contrasts with the color of a snowflake, a paintbrush and a few glass slides.

 

R: So in order to yield the best results, you'll want to freeze your glass slides beforehand to better preserve the snowflake. But on a snowy day, you can stand in the snow and capture a snowflake using your paper or any dark material. Using your paintbrush once you find a snowflake that is speaking to you transfer the flake onto your slide, using your paintbrush and then quickly, quickly move inside to get this underneath your lens and look at your unique crystalline structure.

 

5:54

P: That's awesome.

And I actually heard that some people use glue and then they put it on the slide before catching the snowflake and then freeze the specimen in order to have a better view of the actual crystal structure.

6:08

R: Yeah, so if you wanna get a better look at your snowflake, you will wanna freeze the snowflake itself. So then when the ice inevitably melts, you're left over with this like indentation of snowflake. But in my experience, the freezing of glue is harder than actually just viewing the snowflake underneath the microscope.

6:27

P: That, that sounds about right.

But guys, don't forget if you do try this, don't forget to submit those photos to our encounters page at Nature up north.com. So thanks for joining us in this little Nature Nugget and please let us know what snowflakes you capture and what they look like.

6:47

P: So guys getting back to it, Mr Bentley has a great quote here and I think it's very relevant.

So he's quoted as saying, “a careful study of this internal structure, not only reveals new and far greater elegance of form than the simple outline exhibit, but by means of these wonderfully delicate and exquisite figures, much may be learned of the history of each crystal and the changes through which it has passed in its journey through cloud land was never life history written in more daly hieroglyphics”

7:21

R: I really love that quote Patrick.

When you're reading his words, you can really tell that he put his whole life's work into his snowflakes.

7:35

R: He just loved being in the snow and learning. And eventually, after he published his findings with UVM University of Vermont, this led to a craze regarding his work.

His findings were so new and everyone wanted to learn so much about snowflakes. So eventually, with his work, he found that ice crystals form differently, different temperatures and air temperatures and that the circulation within the storm could be deduced from the crystalline structure.

 

8:04

R: So this was like crazy new scientific findings that came to the Northeast for the first time. And he eventually discovered that the changes in the temperature as the flake fell from the air to the ground would change the way that the crystalline structure looked. But these findings would not be corroborated until 30 years after his initial discovery.

 

8:27

R: So the really interesting thing about this is we just told you this whole story about Snowflake Bentley and his passions and his findings, but Vermont has all four seasons, right?

 

8:38

P: It sure does.

 

R: So Patrick, what did Snowflake Bentley do during the spring and the summer was he maybe like Mud Bentley or Sun-Tan Bentley.

 

8:47

P: Well, besides talking about his snowflakes in the warmer weather, He Bentley was really just fascinated with moisture in the atmosphere. So even during the warmer months, he continued to study meteorology through rain. And his interests were focused on meteorology and he just loved science and had a passion for the natural world.

 

9:13

R: That's really beautiful.

I know that his work, impacted so many different people and so many fields of study.So what did he do after?

 

9:23

P: It's funny you asked that because after he was done taking the snow, his famous snowflake pictures, he actually just died., It's a very tragic story. Although some would say he died doing what he loved in that he was walking through a tremendous blizzard, hoping to get more pictures of snowflakes, of course, and he came down with pneumonia and died a few weeks later on December 23rd, 1931 at age 66.

 

9:58

R: Thank you for sharing Patrick.

9:59

R: This is like what makes me the most sad about this story. He died doing what he loved and he impacted so many lives and it's just such a tale of science and passion. It really moves me.

 

10:14

R:  This is one of my favorite things about when it snows whenever I wake up and it's snowing. I go snowflake Bentley would have loved today. And I like to think that, his memory carries on within those who know his story and have actually read this book. Although Wilson Bentley is most known for his work with the snowflakes, there is an adaptation of his life done by Jacqueline Briggs Martin. It's a children's book and we're just gonna read you the first few pages. It's the most beautifully illustrated book I've ever laid eyes on, We're just gonna do a little volleyball here.

 

10:45

R: In the days when farmers worked with oxen sled and cut the dark with lantern light, there lived a boy who loved snow more than anything else in the world.

 

10:56

P: Wilson Bentley was born February 9th, 1865 on a farm in Jericho Vermont between Lake Champlain and Mountain Mansfield in the heart of the snow belt where the annual snowfall is about 120 inches.

 

11:11

P: Wilson Bentley's happiest days were snowstorm days. He watched snowflakes fall on his mittens on the dried grass of Vermont farm fields on the dark metal handle of the barn doors.

 

11:23

P: He said snow was a beaut as beautiful as butterflies or apple blossoms.

 

R He could net butterflies and show them to his older brother Charlie. And Willie's mother was his teacher until he was 14 years old. He attended school for only a few years. She had a set of encyclopedias. Willie said “I read them all.”

 

11:44

R: He could pick apple blossoms and take them to his mother. But he could not share snowflakes because he could not save them 

 

11:52

P: From his boyhood on he studied all forms of moisture. He kept a record of the weather and did many experiments with raindrops. When his mother gave him an old microscope, he used it to look at flowers, raindrops and blades of grass.

 

12:06

P: Best of all, he used it to look at snow while other Children built forts and pelted snowballs at roosting crows Willie was catching single snowflakes day. After a snowy day, he studied the ice crystals.

 

12:19

R: He learned that most crystals had six branches though a few had three for each snowflake, the six branches were alike. He found that snowflakes were masterpieces of design.

 

12:28

R: He said no one design was ever repeated when a snowflake melted, just that much beauty was gone without leaving any record behind. Their intricate patterns were even more beautiful than he had imagined.

 

12:41

R: He expected to find whole flakes that were the same that were copies of each other. But he never did.

 

12:46

P: Willie decided he must find a way to save snowflakes so others could see their wonderful designs for three winters.

 

12:53

R: He tried drawing snow crystals, they always melted away before he could finish 

 

P: starting at age 15, he drew 100 snow crystals each winter for three winters.

 

13:09

R: When he was 16, Willie read of a camera with its own microscope. “If I had that camera, I could photograph snowflakes.” He told his mother, 

 

P: Willie's mother knew he would not be happy until he could share what he had seen.

 

13:26

P: Fussing with snow is just foolishness his father said, still he loved his son.

13:31

P: When Willie was 17, his parents spent their savings and bought the camera.

 

R: The camera made images on large glass negatives. Its microscope could magnify a tiny crystal from 64 to 3000 time it’s actual size. It was taller than a newborn calf and it cost just as much as his father's herd of new cows.

13:54

R: Willie was sure it was the best of all cameras even 

 

P: so his first pictures were failures no better than shadows yet he would not quit mistake by mistake. Snowflake by snowflake. 

 

14:08

P: Willie worked through every storm winter ended and the snow melted and he had no good pictures. He waited for another season of snow.

 

14:16

P: One day in the second winter, he tried a new experiment and it worked.Willie had figured out how to photograph snowflakes. Now everyone can see the great beauty in the tiny crystals.

 

14:33

P: He used a very small lens opening which let only a little light reach the negative, but he kept the lens open for several seconds up to a minute and a half.

 

14:45

P: He learned too that he could make the snow crystals show up more clearly by using a sharp knife to cut away all the dark parts of the negative around the crystals and etching meant extra hours of work for each photograph.

 

15:00

P: But Willie didn't mind.

15:04

P: Isn't that just a beautiful story?

15:06

P: It's so beautiful.I really enjoy the tale of Snowflake Bentley.

15:11

P: I think it's a great tale of, you know, humble beginnings and really important yet underappreciated work.

15:21

R: It just really makes me appreciate winter so much more.

15:25

P: Me too, me too.

You know, seeing this dude's passion for snowflakes, not like, not even snow, not even the activities of snow, but the actual snow itself. Really does make you think a lot about winter and about moisture in the atmosphere.

 

15:43

R: Every time I'm shoveling and I'm so cold and it's 8 AM I think to myself, Snowflake Bentley would have loved today.

 

15:55

P: So true, so true. And it just gets you through the day.

 

16:01

P: Well, guys, thank you so much for tuning in with your hosts, Pat Chase and Roisin Creedon-Carey for another installment of a Naturally Speaking.

 

16:13

Both: And remember, get up and get outdoors with Nature Up North.