Snowflake pictures by Caltech expert featured on Swedish stamps

Pictures of snowflakes taken by a Caltech physicist will be featured on a set of winter stamps in Sweden.

Professor Ken Libbrecht is one of the world's top experts on snowflakes and ice crystal formations. He is also an avid photographer. The snow crystals featured on the winter holiday stamps were taken by Libbrecht in northern Sweden.

His regular job in the lab is to study and grow ice crystals from water vapor to create synthetic snowflakes.

"To capture the characteristics of each crystal, I have developed a special microscope that allows me to add back lighting," Libbrecht said in a statement Wednesday. "The snow crystal functions as a complex lens that reflects light, resulting in beautiful coloring effects."

-- Ching-Ching Ni

Image: Stamps from Sweden featuring photos by Caltech physicist Ken Libbrecht. Credit: California Institute of Technology

Comments

[Hezekiah]

Wow! Some good news in the media! Of course it's about an American scientist being celebrated in a foreign country (while we at home pay homage to basketball stars with overactive pituitary glands and vacuous movie actors), but I'll take what I can get.

[M. Kobt]

Love Them.