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Dying for photography, 100 years ago.

Wilson A Bentley made the first photographs of single snowflakes, using a microscope and a bellows camera.

Snowflake expert Kenneth G Libbrecht said the photos did not meet modern standards because of the "crude equipment" Bentley used.

"But he did it so well that hardly anybody bothered to photograph snowflakes for almost 100 years," Mr Libbrecht added....

Bentley, who was known as The Snowflake Man, wrote in 1925: "Under the microscope, I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty and it seemed a shame that this beauty should not be seen and appreciated by others.

"Every crystal was a masterpiece of design, and no one design was ever repeated. When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost."

After catching innumerable snowflakes and preserving them forever, he "caught pneumonia in a blizzard" and died.

IN THE COMMENTS: Bob_R said: "It's like Hugh Hefner being killed by being crushed by a million breasts."

Full post as published by Althouse on January 22, 2010 (boomark / email).