http://www.physorg.com/news9328.html Postage rates may keep going up, but when it comes to natural beauty and scientific wonder, one particular issue of stamps is going to be hard to lick. Beginning next October, the U.S. Postal Service will issue a set of four commemorative stamps featuring images of snowflakes furnished by that hotbed of snowflake research, the California Institute of Technology. The holiday snowflakes stamp set will display photographs taken by Caltech physics professor Kenneth Libbrecht.
For several years Libbrecht has been investigating the basic physics of how patterns are created during crystal growth and other simple physical processes. He has delved particularly deeply into a case study of the formation of snowflakes. His research is aimed at better understanding how structures arise in material systems, but it is also visually compelling and, from the start, has been a hit with the public.
"My snowflake website,
http://www.snowcrystals.com , is getting about two million hits a year," says Libbrecht, "of course, with a big peak during the winter months."
Libbrecht attributes the site's popularity to its discussion of some very accessible science. "Snowflake patterns are well known, the snowflakes fall right out of the sky, and you don't necessarily need a science background to appreciate the science behind how these ice structures form. It's an especially good introduction to science for younger kids," he says.
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