Snow: Flakes and Crystals

Science Reference Section
Science, Technology, and Business Division
Library of Congress

SELECTED TITLES ...SELECTED ARTICLES ... SELECTED INTERNET RESOURCES

Photos curtesy of Kenneth Libbrecht
See other images of snowflakes by Kenneth Libbrecht

SELECTED TITLES

Bentley, W. A. Snowflakes in photographs. Mineola, N.Y., Dover Publications, 2000. 72 p. Originally published as Snowcrystals. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1931.
   QC926.36.B46 2000

Blanchard, Duncan C. The snowflake man: a biography of Wilson A. Bentley. Blacksburg, VA, McDonald & Woodward Pub., 1998. 237 p.
   QC858.B46 B55

Kepler, Johannes. The six-cornered snowflake. Oxford, Claredon P., 1966. 75 p.
   Edited and translated from the Latin by Colin Hardie with essays by L.L. Whyte and B.F. J. Mason.
   Bibliography: p. 75
   QC929.S7 K413

LaChapelle, Edward R. Field guide to snow crystals. Cambridge, England, International Glaciological Society, c1992. 101 p.
Originally published Seattle, University of Washington Press, 1969.
   Bibliography: p.101.
   QC929.S7.L3 1992

Libbrecht, Kenneth George.  Ken Libbrecht's field guide to snowflakes.  St. Paul, MN, MBI Pub., c2006.  112 p.
   QC926.32 .L529 2006

Libbrecht, Kenneth George.  The secret life of a snowflake: an up-close look at the art & science of snowflakes.  Minneapolis, MN, Voyageur Press, 2009.  48 p.
   QC926.37 .L53 2009

Libbrecht, Kenneth George. The snowflake: winter’s secret beauty. Stillwater, MN, Voyageur Press, c2003. 112 p.
   QC926.32.L53 2003

Nakaya, Ukichrio. Snow crystals: natural and artifical. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1954. 510 p.
   Bibliography: 312-314.
   QC929.S7.N2

Noble, Marty and Eric Gottesman. Snowflake designs. Mineola, N.Y., Dover Publications, c2001. 43 p.
   QC929.S7 N63 2001

Sugarman, Joan. Snowflakes. Boston, Little, Brown, c1985. 53 p.
   QC929.S7.S84

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Titles for Younger Readers

Martin, Jacqueline Briggs. Snowflake Bentley. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1998. 1 v. (unpaged).
   Snowflake Bentley won the 1999 Caldecott Medal.
   QC858.B46M37 1998

Stoddard, Gloria May. Snowflake Bentley: man of science, man of God. Shelburne, VT, New England Press, 1985.
   QC858.B46S76 1985

Sugarman, Joan. Snowflakes. Boston, Little, Brown, c1985. 53 p.
   QC929.S7.S84 1985

Waldman, Neil. The snowflake: a water cycle story. Brookfield, CT, Millbrook Press, c2003.    GB848.W34 2003

SELECTED ARTICLES

Amato, Ivan. The secret life of snow. Discover, v. 25, Feb. 2004: 56-61.
   Q1.D57

Bentley, W. A. and G. H. Perkins. A study of snowflakes. Popular science, v. 53, May 1898: 65-82.
   AP2.P8

Boyle, Sarah. When research is a snow job. National Wildlife, v. 40, Dec. 2001/Jan. 2002: 62-64.
   S964.U6N35

Carey, John. Crystallizing the truth: snowflakes have confounded scientists for centuries; only now are they begining to understand how these crystals form. National Wildlife, v. 23, Dec. 1984/Jan 1985: 42-45.
   S964.U6N35

Colbeck, Samuel C. What becomes of a winter snowflake? Weatherwise, v. 38, Dec. 1985: 312-315.
   QC851.W42

Hapgood, F. When ice crystals fall from the sky, art meets science. Smithsonian, v. 6, Jan. 1976: 66-73.
   AS30.S6

Taubes, Gary. The snowflake enigma. Discover, v. 5, Jan. 1984: 74-78.
   Q1.D57

Wergin, W.P., A Rango and E.F. Erbe. The structure and metamorphism of snow crystals as revealed by low temperature scanning electron microscopy. Proceedings of the annual eastern snow conference, v. 53, 1996: 195-204.
   QC929.S7 E34
  Also available in computer format from the Electron Microscopy Unit   http://emu.arsusda.gov/snowsite/contacts/277.txt

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SELECTED INTERNET RESOURCES

Bentley Snow Crystal Collection of the Buffalo Museum of Science
   http://bentley.sciencebuff.org/collection.asp
   Digital library of Bentley’s original glass slide negatives. Passages from Bentley’s notebook, a bibliography of Bentley’s papers, and notes on the photographic process are included.

Cryosphere
   http://nsidc.org/cryosphere/
   The cryosphere is that portion of the Earth's surface where water is a solid form, usually as snow or ice, including sea ice, freshwater ice, snow, glaciers, and frozen ground (or permafrost). The National Snow and Ice Data Center sponsors this Web site which has features such as “Cold Facts: Earth's Snow, Ice, and Frozen Soils” and “State of the Cryosphere.”

Electron Microscope Unit Snow Page: Snow Crystal Site
   http://emu.arsusda.gov/snowsite/default.html
   This Web site contains snow crystal images that were obtained by using a low temperature scanning electronic microscope at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center. The site includes links to other sites as well as a publications list.

NOAA Photo Library: Snow and Ice
   http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/nws/newsnowice1.html
   Images from the National Historical Weather Service Weather Wonders album includes "Studies among Snow Crystals..." by Wilson Bentley and photographs of snow & ice.

Snowcrystals.com
http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/
“ This site is all about snow crystals and snowflakes -- what they are, where they come from, and just how these remarkably complex and beautiful structures are created, quite literally, out of thin air.”

The Why Files: Snowflakes or Snowfakes?
   http://whyfiles.org/273crystal/
   “The Why Files talked about the nitty-gritty of snowflakes with David Griffeath, professor of mathematics at University of Wisconsin-Madison, who worked on the snowflake simulation with Janko Gravner, a mathematician at the University of California at Davis.”

Wilson A. Bentley: The Snowflake Man. Jericho Historical Society
http://snowflakebentley.com/index.htm
See Museum link http://snowflakebentley.com/museum.htm to view a selection of Bentley’s snow crystal images and take a virtual tour of the museum. Also of interest are full text articles about or by Bentley under the Resources Link.

Compiled December 2004