Snowflake Theory - Snowed?

Wednesday morning Men's Fellowship took a turn when the two scientists in our group corrected my cheesy statement of the wonder and beauty of every snowflake being different.

PHOTO: Ken Libbrecht

Had my memories of Abstract Algebra and Group Theory about Crystallographic Groups and the associated mathematical proofs been mixed up and confused with the elementary teacher claim of snowflake uniqueness?  Was it my lack of physics knowledge ( I was never really good at physics anyway) that created this misconception.

Using his smart (alec) iphone, J.B.  used Siri to resolve the dispute.   Yes,  Siri said that this claim was wrong!  While very improbable (10^24) there is a probability two could be identical.  Wow - that struck my Statistics nerve!

Off to the internet I independently went.  Only to find no real answer:

Decoded Science - No Two Snowflakes are Alike
Huffington Posts -  It's True That Now Two Snowflakes are Alike
NBC News -  Two Snowflakes may actually be alike
CBC TV - Chasing Snowflakes

Just like arguing about Global Warming - how can one "prove" and find the truth?

Regardless of the source there is always a way to weasel out of the facts.  As Kenneth Libbrecht, Professor of Physics at the California Institute of Technology and the world's foremost expert on snowflake formation -
"It really depends on what you mean by snowflake and what you mean by different".


So -  I will continue to believe in the wonder and beauty and state the uniqueness of snowflakes until someone shows me a duplicate.  Yet another question for God when you arrive at the pearly gates.