Abstract
Johannes Kepler, the yet-to-be famous astronomer, presented a unique New Year's gift to his patron in the winter of 1611. The scientist gave his benefactor a witty, reasoned discussion on why snowflakes (more exactly, ice crystals) have six corners. Since microscopes and diffraction instruments had not yet been invented, no one really knew why crystals took the shapes they did. Kepler argued for the development of external shapes in crystals and other natural structures by the filling of three-dimensional space with atoms in various packing arrangements. He used analogies such as stacked cannon balls, bee hives, and packing of geometric shapes. Since he was unable to convince himself that the internal structure produced the external shapes, Kepler erroneously concluded that there is a "formative principle" which maintains six-cornered shapes. However, for his efforts to understand the cause of crystal shapes and his arguments which almost resulted in the correct explanation, he has been called by some "the father of crystallography."