Wilson Alwyn Bentley was born February 9th, 1865, on a farm in Jericho, Vermont. His mother was a former teacher, and home schooled his brother and him. His father taught him how to farm. A farm boy's life is close to nature, which well-suited Bentley because he loved nature and the weather. He was very curious, especially about snow. For his 15th birthday, his mother gave him a microscope. Looking at snow crystals through his microscope, Bentley was amazed at their beauty, complexity, and variety. He tried to make detailed drawings of magnified snow crystals, but the snow melted before he could finish. Frustrated but determined to capture the exquisite geometrical intricacies of snow crystals, he decided to try photography.
During the late 19th Century the camera was an expensive new technology. Bentley's father considered a camera an unnecessary luxury and would not buy him one--he did not understand why Bentley wanted such an expensive "toy". Fortunately, Bentley's mother helped change his father's mind, and when Bentley was seventeen he got a camera and new microscope.
It took Bentley two years of painstaking trial and error, but on January 15, 1885, at the age of 19 years, he made the world's first photomicrograph of a snow crystal. The process he developed was unique and innovative, and when he first shared his images with others many people, especially scientists and professional photographers, "doubted Bentley's ability and his images" authenticity. However, over time Bentley was recognized for what he had achieved. His boyhood interest in the snow's microscopic beauty expanded to include a scientific curiosity of snow crystals structure and development, and he devoted himself to his photography and study of snow and other atmospheric phenomenon.
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