The Accidental Invention of the Snow Globe

Sometimes the best inventions are the unintentional ones. Smithonsian shares how tinkerer Erwin Perzy I made the first snow globe when trying to make better lighting for operating rooms.

In the opening scene of the 1941 mystery Citizen Kane, the eponymous protagonist, played by Orson Welles, clenches a snow globe in his hand as he utters his last word: “rosebud.” The glass-encased spherical diorama of a snowy scene was a mere novelty at the time, but the film, in part, gave rise to its popularity.

Now, more than 80 years later, it’s hard to imagine the Christmas season without snow globes. A symbol of childhood nostalgia, the Austrian innovation has become beloved around the world.

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