Kenneth Libbrecht 
The Snowflake 

Snowflakes may be an everyday, common subject, but youve never seen them like this! A collection of amazing photography of snow crystals using a unique system designed to take super-detailed micro images of these miniature ice masterpieces, ‘The Snowflake’ is an extraordinary look at a seemingly ordinary object. Author Kenneth Libbrecht, a physics professor at Caltech and the pre-eminent snow-crystal researcher, discusses the physics and mythology of snow and how snow crystals are made. Photographer Patricia Rasmussen presents remarkable color micro-photography of snowflakes, and also discusses the history of snow-crystal micro-photography as invented by farmer Wilson Bentley.

About the author

Kenneth Libbrecht is a professor of physics at Caltech, where he studies the molecular dynamics of crystal growth, especially how ice crystals grow from water vapor, which is essentially the physics of snowflakes. He has authored several books on this topic, including The Snowflake: Winter’s Secret Beauty, The Snowflake: Winter’s Frozen Artistry, The Art of the Snowflake, and Field Guide to Snowflakes. Dr. Libbrecht served as science consultant on the Disney film Frozen. He lives in Pasadena with his wife, Rachel Wing. They have two children.