How the Glaishers pictured snowflakes

Winckel, Floris (2024): How the Glaishers pictured snowflakes. In: The British Journal for the History of Science [Forthcoming]

Abstract

The Glaisher snowflakes (1855) are amongst the most recognizable images of snow crystals produced in the nineteenth century. Made with the intent of compiling a comprehensive record of snow crystal forms, they also appeared in a variety of print publications, from popular magazines to scientific textbooks, and briefly circulated through various scientific and artistic societies. In a time when reliable images of these small, transparent, ephemeral objects were few and far between, the Glaisher snowflakes were widely praised for both their beauty and their fidelity to nature. But their origin has so far been little examined. This article sheds light on how James and Cecilia Glaisher went about making them, and invites readers to see them through three interconnected perspectives: as products of a domestic environment, as products of a husband-and-wife collaboration, and as products of iterative image making.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Faculties: Cultural Studies > Department of Ancient and Modern Cultures > Institute for European Ethnology and Cultural Analysis
• Research Centers: Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society (RCC)
• Subjects: 700 Arts and recreation > 760 Graphic arts
• ISSN: 0007-0874
• Annotation: First View online 2024
• Language: English