The Nakaya Ukichiro Snow and Ice Museum 中谷宇吉郎雪の科学館

In 1932, he moved to an isolated cabin on Mount Tokachi with his research group to unlock the secrets of snow and ice . From this expedition, he brought back 3,000 annotated photographs of snow crystals; fine observations that allow him to establish a classification of flakes making a relationship between the shape of the crystals and the meteorological conditions. In 1935, he opened a laboratory kept at low temperature (down to -50°C) to deepen his work and try to imitate nature. His hard work is rewarded the following year when he manages to artificially create snow.

To read: Top snow festivals in Japan

Driving tour between Kanazawa and Kyoto

This maxim, which has now become inseparable from the scientist, is displayed on a large kakemono at the entrance to the museum and conveys with accuracy and poetry his fascination for snow. In 1941, his work was awarded the Imperial Prize of the Academy of Japan . In the 1940s, for military purposes, he unsuccessfully sought a way to avoid atmospheric icing of aircraft . During the following decade, Nakaya studied the question of the formation of snow and ice in different regions of the world (Illinois, Greenland, Hawaii).

science for all

Well beyond his scientific work, which led him to observe snow crystals for hours through his microscope, Nakaya was guided by a deep desire to share his knowledge . A great popularizer of his work, he is the author of several books intended for the general public such as " Fuyu no hana " ("Winter Flower") and " Yuki " ("Snow") and then the producer of scientific films . It is in this sense that the Nakaya Ukichiro Snow and Ice Museum is designed. The museum opened in Kaga in 1994 to encourage young people to study science ; providing films, photographs and experimental devices for everyone. In the exhibition halls, a large part of the photographs, notes, machines and equipment from Nakaya's laboratory are presented. The great originality of leiux is based on the snow and ice laboratories which allow experiments to be carried out: fishing ice, making diamond dust, creating frozen stained glass windows, lenses and ice pendants... Impossible not to melt in front of these jewels that would make the Snow Queen green with envy!

Hundreds of millions of small stones from the Thule region, Nakaya's last research site, artificially reproduce the fog of the glaciers of Greenland. Finally, note that since 2000, the year of the hundredth anniversary of Nakaya's birth, the museum has been organizing a design competition featuring snow and ice motifs regardless of the medium and materials used. Scheduled every two years, the next edition of the Snow Design Award will be held in 2019; this leaves you a little time to design your project!

See also: Onsen around Kanazawa