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Nature 444, 1008 (21 December 2006) | doi:10.1038/4441008a; Published online 21 December 2006

Science in culture

Martin Kemp1

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The snowflake man

Wilson Bentley's photographs of snow crystals strike a chord with us all.Since its debut in Johannes Kepler's book On the Six-Cornered Snowflake in 1611 (see Nature 432, 953; 2004), the snowflake shape has become as familiar as nature's other geometrical designs, such as the spider's web, the honeycomb and mollusc shells.