No Two Snowflakes?

Factual Questions
1

A little factoid on my coffee cup got me to thinking yesterday. It said, IIRC, that William Brantley (?) from Vermont was the first person to photograph snowflakes, proving that no two were alike.

But it seems to me that photography would be an inadequate proof since, even if he filmed thousands of them it would still be too small a percent of the kabillions of flakes that have fallen since the beginning of time to be able to provide any predictions.

So, if the factoid that no two snowflakes are ever alike is true, what was the proof offered to validate it?

2

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_392.html

3

Apparently a CalTech physicist, Kenneth Libbrecht, felt an itch that needed to be scratched. In a nutshell, he has indeed found a way to explain how no two snowflakes might be alike (it has to do with the precise meteorological conditions experienced by each flake as it grows).

There’s a news item on his findings here. He also has a really cool website all about snowflakes here.