Professor’s invention from over a century ago impacts ‘snow science’

James Church innovation laid the groundwork for today’s measurements

James Church was a man with many hats. As a professor of Classics at the University of Nevada, Reno, he taught a variety of subjects related to the arts, including literature and art history. Then, as he spent more time in the Reno area, he discovered his love for snow and mountains through his many mountaineering excursions in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, where he would become fascinated with the science behind snow and the water it contained.