How the simple snowflake revealed its beauty to science

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From Han dynasty scholars to the work of ‘Snowflake Bentley’ – a farmer from Vermont who photographed over 5,000 of these ‘tiny miracles of beauty’, Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough explores how this very tiny form entered the public consciousness. For more fascinating slices of cultural history, listen to Essential Classics' Time Traveller feature every weekday morning after 10. The music in this clip is 'The snow is dancing' from Children's Corner by Debussy, performed by Stephen Osborne; 'Tang chun bai xue' ('Snow on a sunny spring day', traditional Chinese) performed by Lui Pui-Yuen; and 'Snow' by Elena Langer.