The Snowflake Man is a biography of Wilson Alwyn Bentley, the farmer from Jericho, Vermont, who took more than five thousand photomicrographs of ice, dew, frost, and--especially--snow crystals. Although his photographs were taken between 1885 and 1931, they have never been equaled and are in great demand today. Bentley’s story is one of courage and persistence against tremendous odds. He taught himself how to photograph snow crystals through a microscope while still in his teens and then pursued his obsession for years before having the beauty and scientific value of his work recognized by others. The Snowflake Man lays open the life of a simple, self-educated, sensitive man who pursued natural beauty with microscope and camera for nearly fifty years.
Duncan C. Blanchard holds degrees in engineering (B.S., Tufts, 1947), physics (M.S., Penn State, 1951), and meteorology (Ph.D., MIT, 1961), and has conducted research in the atmospheric sciences at General Electric, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, and the Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, SUNY-Albany. He has published more than 150 articles and books. His book From Raindrops to Volcanoes, written for a popular audience, has been printed in seven languages. Blanchard has long held an interest in the life and work of Wilson Bentley. A natural affinity developed from the fact that Bentley's work with snow crystals paralleled in part Blanchard's interest in the development and growth of snowflakes, snow crystals, raindrops, and the seeding of clouds. Blanchard has published several articles about Bentley's life, but The Snowflake Man is the first book-length biography of Bentley published for adults in the English language.
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