Timeline of snowflake research
Encyclopedia
The hexagonal snowflake
, a crystal
line 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.
Snowflake
Snowflakes are conglomerations of frozen ice crystals which fall through the Earth's atmosphere. They begin as snow crystals which develop when microscopic supercooled cloud droplets freeze. Snowflakes come in a variety of sizes and shapes. Complex shapes emerge as the flake moves through...
, a crystal
Crystal
A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions. The scientific study of crystals and crystal formation is known as crystallography...
line formation of ice
Ice
Ice is water frozen into the solid state. Usually ice is the phase known as ice Ih, which is the most abundant of the varying solid phases on the Earth's surface. It can appear transparent or opaque bluish-white color, depending on the presence of impurities or air inclusions...
, has intrigued people throughout history. This is a chronology
Chronology
Chronology is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time, such as the use of a timeline or sequence of events. It is also "the determination of the actual temporal sequence of past events".Chronology is part of periodization...
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.
BC to 1900
- BC150 or BC 135 - Han Ying's (韓嬰) book "Disconnection (韓詩外傳)" contrasts the pentagonPentagonIn geometry, a pentagon is any five-sided polygon. A pentagon may be simple or self-intersecting. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagram is an example of a self-intersecting pentagon.- Regular pentagons :In a regular pentagon, all sides are equal in length and...
al symmetry of flowers with the hexagonal symmetry of snow (in Chinese 曰凡草木花多五出雪花獨六出雪花曰霙雪雲曰同雲). This is discussed further in Imperial Readings of the Taiping EraImperial Readings of the Taiping EraThe Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era is a massive encyclopedia compiled by a number of officers commissioned by the imperial court of the Song Dynasty with the lead editor being Li Fang from 977 to 983 during the era of Taiping Xingguo. It is divided into 1,000 volumes and 55 sections, which...
. - 1250 - Albertus MagnusAlbertus MagnusAlbertus Magnus, O.P. , also known as Albert the Great and Albert of Cologne, is a Catholic saint. He was a German Dominican friar and a bishop, who achieved fame for his comprehensive knowledge of and advocacy for the peaceful coexistence of science and religion. Those such as James A. Weisheipl...
offers what is believed to be the oldest detailed description of snow. - 1555 - Olaus MagnusOlaus MagnusOlaus Magnus was a Swedish ecclesiastic and writer, who did pioneering work for the interest of Nordic people. He was reported as born in October 1490 in Östergötland, and died on August 1, 1557. Magnus, Latin for the Swedish Stor “great”, is a Latin family name taken personally, and not a...
publishes the earliest snowflake diagrams in Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus. - 1611 - Johannes KeplerJohannes KeplerJohannes Kepler was a German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer. A key figure in the 17th century scientific revolution, he is best known for his eponymous laws of planetary motion, codified by later astronomers, based on his works Astronomia nova, Harmonices Mundi, and Epitome of Copernican...
, in Strenaseu De Nive Sexangula, attempts to explain why snow crystals are hexagonal. - 1637 - René DescartesRené DescartesRené Descartes ; was a French philosopher and writer who spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic. He has been dubbed the 'Father of Modern Philosophy', and much subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which are studied closely to this day...
' Discourse on the Method includes hexagonal diagrams and a study for the crystallization process and conditions for snowflakes. - 1660 - Erasmus BartholinusRasmus BartholinRasmus Bartholin was a Danish scientist and physician. As part of his studies, he travelled in Europe for ten years. Professor at the University of Copenhagen, first in Geometry, later in Medicine...
, in his De figura nivis dissertatio, includes sketches of snow crystals. - 1665 - Robert HookeRobert HookeRobert Hooke FRS was an English natural philosopher, architect and polymath.His adult life comprised three distinct periods: as a scientific inquirer lacking money; achieving great wealth and standing through his reputation for hard work and scrupulous honesty following the great fire of 1666, but...
observesObservationObservation is either an activity of a living being, such as a human, consisting of receiving knowledge of the outside world through the senses, or the recording of data using scientific instruments. The term may also refer to any data collected during this activity...
snow crystals under magnification in MicrographiaMicrographiaMicrographia is a historic book by Robert Hooke, detailing the then thirty year-old Hooke's observations through various lenses. Published in September 1665, the first major publication of the Royal Society, it was the first scientific best-seller, inspiring a wide public interest in the new...
. - 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 KōkanShiba Kokan, born Suzuki Harushige , was a Japanese painter and printmaker of the Edo period, famous both for his Western-style yōga paintings, in imitation of Dutch oil painting styles, methods, and themes, which he painted as Kōkan, and his ukiyo-e prints, primarily forgeries of the works of Suzuki...
publishes sketches of ice crystals under a microscopeMicroscopeA microscope is an instrument used to see objects that are too small for the naked eye. The science of investigating small objects using such an instrument is called microscopy...
. - 1820 - William ScoresbyWilliam ScoresbyWilliam Scoresby , was an English Arctic explorer, scientist and clergyman.-Early years:Scoresby was born in the village of Cropton near Pickering 26 miles south of Whitby in Yorkshire. His father, William Scoresby , made a fortune in the Arctic whale fishery...
's An account of the Arteic Regions includes snow crystals by type. - 1832 - Doi ToshitsuraDoi Toshitsurawas a Japanese daimyo of the Edo period, who ruled the Koga Domain. He served as a rōjū in the Tokugawa shogunate.-References:* Bolitho, Harold. . Treasures Among Men: The Fudai Daimyo in Tokugawa Japan. New Haven: Yale University Press. 10-ISBN 0-300-01655-7/13-ISBN 978-0-300-01655-0;...
describes and diagrams 86 types of snowflake (雪華図説). - 1837 - publishes Hokuetsu SeppuHokuetsu SeppuHokuetsu Seppu is a late Edo-period encyclopedic work of human geography describing life in the Uonuma area of Japan's old Echigo Province, a place known for its long winters and deep snow.First published in Edo in 1837,...
. - 1840 - Doi Toshitsura expands his categories to include 97 types.
- 1855 - James GlaisherJames GlaisherJames Glaisher FRS , was an English meteorologist and aeronaut.Born in Rotherhithe, the son of a London watchmaker, Glaisher was a Junior assistant at the Cambridge Observatory from 1833 to 1835 before moving to the Royal Greenwich Observatories, where he served as Superintendent of the Department...
publishes detailed sketches of snow crystals under a microscope. - 1865 - Frances E. Chickering publishes Cloud Crystals - a Snow-Flake Album.
- 1870 - Adolf Erik NordenskiöldAdolf Erik NordenskiöldFreiherr Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld , also known as A. E. Nordenskioeld was a Finnish baron, geologist, mineralogist and arctic explorer of Finnish-Swedish origin. He was a member of the prominent Finland-Swedish Nordenskiöld family of scientists...
identifies "cryoconiteCryoconiteCryoconite is powdery windblown dust which is deposited and builds up on snow, glaciers, or icecaps. It contains small amounts of soot which absorbs solar radiation melting the snow or ice beneath the deposit sometimes creating a cryoconite hole. Cryoconite may contain dust from far away...
holes." - 1872 - John TyndallJohn TyndallJohn Tyndall FRS was a prominent Irish 19th century physicist. His initial scientific fame arose in the 1850s from his study of diamagnetism. Later he studied thermal radiation, and produced a number of discoveries about processes in the atmosphere...
publishes The Forms of Water in Clouds and Rivers, Ice and Glaciers. - 1891 - Friedrich Umlauft publishes Das Luftmeer.
- 1893 - Richard Neuhauss photographs a snowflake under a microscope, titled Schneekrystalle.
- 1894 - A. A. Sigson photographs snowflakes under a microscope.
1901 to 2000
- 1901 - Wilson BentleyWilson BentleyWilson Alwyn "Snowflake" Bentley , born in Jericho, Vermont, United States is one of the first known photographers of snowflakes. 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 sublimed.-Biography:Bentley was...
publishes a series of photographs of individual snowflakes in the Monthly Weather Review. - 1903 - Svante ArrheniusSvante ArrheniusSvante August Arrhenius was a Swedish scientist, originally a physicist, but often referred to as a chemist, and one of the founders of the science of physical chemistry...
describes crystallization process in Lehrbuch der Kosmischen Physik. - 1931 - Wilson BentleyWilson BentleyWilson Alwyn "Snowflake" Bentley , born in Jericho, Vermont, United States is one of the first known photographers of snowflakes. 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 sublimed.-Biography:Bentley was...
and William Jackson HumphreysWilliam Jackson HumphreysWilliam Jackson Humphreys was an American physicist and atmospheric researcher.-Biography:Hymphreys was born on February 3, 1862 in Gap Mills, West Virginia. He studied physics at Washington & Lee University in Virginia and later at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he earned his Ph.D...
publish Snow Crystals - 1936 - Ukichiro NakayaUkichiro Nakayawas a Japanese physicist and science essayist known for his work in glaciology and low-temperature sciences. He is credited with making the first artificial snowflakes.-Life and research:...
creates snow crystals and charts the relationship between temperature and water vaporWater vaporWater vapor or water vapour , also aqueous vapor, is the gas phase of water. It is one state of water within the hydrosphere. Water vapor can be produced from the evaporation or boiling of liquid water or from the sublimation of ice. Under typical atmospheric conditions, water vapor is continuously...
saturationSaturationSaturation or saturated may refer to:- Meteorology :* Dew point, which is a temperature that occurs when atmospheric humidity reaches 100% and the air is saturated with moisture- Physics :...
, later called the Nakaya Diagram. - 1938 - Ukichiro Nakaya publishes
- 1949 - Ukichiro Nakaya publishes
- 1952 - M. de Quervain et al. define ten major types of snow crystals, including hailHailHail is a form of solid precipitation. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is referred to as a hail stone. Hail stones on Earth consist mostly of water ice and measure between and in diameter, with the larger stones coming from severe thunderstorms...
and graupel in IUGG for the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research. - 1954 - Harvard University Press publishes Ukichiro Nakaya's Snow Crystals: Natural and Artificial.
- 1960 - , verifies and improves the Nakaya Diagram with the Kobayashi Diagram.
- 1962 - describes meteorological sorting of snow crystal types in cloudCloudA cloud is a visible mass of liquid droplets or frozen crystals made of water and/or various chemicals suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of a planetary body. They are also known as aerosols. Clouds in Earth's atmosphere are studied in the cloud physics branch of meteorology...
s. - 1979 - and Rolf Lacmann, of the Braunschweig University of Technology, publish Growth Mechanism of Ice from Vapour Phase and its Growth Forms.
- 1983 August - Astronauts make snow crystals in orbitOrbital spaceflightAn orbital spaceflight is a spaceflight in which a spacecraft is placed on a trajectory where it could remain in space for at least one orbit. To do this around the Earth, it must be on a free trajectory which has an altitude at perigee above...
on the Space Shuttle ChallengerSpace Shuttle ChallengerSpace Shuttle Challenger was NASA's second Space Shuttle orbiter to be put into service, Columbia having been the first. The shuttle was built by Rockwell International's Space Transportation Systems Division in Downey, California...
during mission STS-8STS-8STS-8 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission which launched on 30 August 1983 and landed on 5 September; it conducted the first night launch and night landing of the program, and flew the first African-American astronaut, Guion Bluford...
. - 1988 - et al. make artificial snow crystals in an updraftVertical draftAn updraft or downdraft is the vertical movement of air as a weather related phenomenon. One of two forces causes the air to move. Localized regions of warm or cool air will exhibit vertical movement. A mass of warm air will typically be less dense than the surrounding region, and so will rise...
, confirming the Nakaya Diagram.
2001 and after
- 2002 - devises a simple snow crystal growth observatory apparatus using a PET bottlePlastic bottleA plastic bottle is a bottle constructed of plastic, with a neck that is narrower than its real body and an opening at the top. The mouth of the bottle is normally sealed with a plastic bottle cap. Plastic bottles are typically used to store liquids such as water, soft drinks, motor oil, cooking...
cooled by dry iceDry iceDry ice, sometimes referred to as "Cardice" or as "card ice" , is the solid form of carbon dioxide. It is used primarily as a cooling agent. Its advantages include lower temperature than that of water ice and not leaving any residue...
in an expanded polystyrenePolystyrenePolystyrene ) also known as Thermocole, abbreviated following ISO Standard PS, is an aromatic polymer made from the monomer styrene, a liquid hydrocarbon that is manufactured from petroleum by the chemical industry...
box. - 2004 September - invented the apparatus named lit.Literal translationLiteral translation, or direct translation, is the rendering of text from one language to another "word-for-word" rather than conveying the sense of the original...
Murai-method Artificial Snow Crystal producer (Murai式人工雪結晶生成装置) which makes various shape of artificial snow crystals per pre-setting conditions meeting to Nakaya diagram by vapor generator and it's cooling Peltier effect element. - 2008 December - demonstrates conditional snow crystal growth in spaceOuter spaceOuter space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos....
, in Solution Crystallization Observation Facility (SCOF) one the JEMJapanese Experiment ModuleThe Japanese Experiment Module , also known with the nickname , is a Japanese science module for the International Space Station developed by JAXA. It is the largest single ISS module. The first two pieces of the module were launched on space shuttle missions STS-123 and STS-124...
(Kibō), remotely controlled from Tsukuba Space Center of JAXAJapan Aerospace Exploration AgencyThe , or JAXA, is Japan's national aerospace agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on October 1, 2003, as an Independent Administrative Institution administered by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the...
.
External links
- The history of the science of snowflakes
- Movie: Snow Crystal growth in space by JAXA on 2 December 2008 (3 times fast replay) (in Japanese)