The Worlds Smallest Model Snowman

This festive image was created by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the UK’s measurement institute. The world’s smallest model snowman is 0.01 mm across - about 1/5th the width of the average human hair. The

nose measures 0.7 microns, or 0.0007mm.

The snowman is made of two tiny tin beads, of the kind used to calibrate electron microscope lenses. It was assembled manually using a system designed to manipulate nano-particles, and welded together with tiny deposits of platinum. The eyes and smile were milled using a focused ion beam, and the nose is ion beam deposited platinum.

The snowman was created by Dr David Cox, who is seconded to the Quantum Detection group at NPL from the Advanced Technology Institute at the University of Surrey. He used tools that would normally be used to examine nanomaterials.