It was in the 1940s that the Canadian scientist is said to have "accidentally" created the very first snow cannon in the laboratory.
He and other researchers were trying to develop a chilled water spray device to test the effects of icing on jet engines.
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Rather than producing ice, the mechanism produced snow. Although these researchers did not patent their discovery, the fruit of their research inspired three Connecticut ski manufacturers at the turn of the 1950s.
The first snow cannons used in the United States
Wayne Pierce, Art Hunt and Dave Richey were responsible for the first commercial cannon consisting of a paint-spraying compressor, a nozzle and a garden hose.
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The first use of artificial snow was in a resort north of New York. In Europe, it was Switzerland, in 1963, that commissioned the first snow cannons at Le Chalet-à-Gobet, on the heights of Lausanne.
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