Science and engineering
Renaissance humanism saw no mutually exclusive polarities between the sciences and the arts, and as impressive and innovative as da Vinci's artistic work are his studies in science and engineering, recorded in notebooks comprising 13,000 pages of notes and drawings, which fuse art and science. These notes were made and maintained through da Vinci's travels through Europe, during which he made continual observations of the world around him.
Da Vinci's approach to science was an observational one: he tried to understand a phenomenon by describing and depicting it in utmost detail, and did not emphasize experiments or theoretical explanations. Throughout da Vinci's life, he planned a grand encyclopedia based on detailed drawings of everything. Since he lacked formal education in Latin and mathematics, contemporary scholars mostly ignored da Vinci the scientist.
Da Vinci pioneered a number of ideas that later manifested into modern inventions.
Heliocopter - This is a detail of the mechanism that drives the heliocopter. Two men would run on the lower level, which would rotate. The rotation would force the upper "fans" to rotate as well, lifting the heliocopter off the ground.
Machine Gun - Da Vinci's machine actually consisted of three sets of machine guns, set on a rotating drum (you can see the triangle underneath the left wheel, a set of guns would be placed on each side of the triangle.) When the first set of fired, the force of the explosion would pivot the guns down, bringing the next set of guns to the top, ready to be fired.
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Catapult - This stone thrower consists of a base, curved beam, gears, and a release mechanism. A stone would be laid on the top of the arched wooden beam and the release mechanism would be tightened with the gear. When the beam was released, the force of the release would catapult the stone into the air. |
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Anatomy
Da Vinci started to discover the anatomy of the human body at the time he was apprenticed to Andrea del Verrocchio, as his teacher insisted that all his pupils learn anatomy. As da Vinci became successful as an artist, he was given permission to dissect human corpses at the hospital Santa Maria Nuova in Florence. Later he dissected also in Milano in the hospital Maggiore and in Rome in the hospital Santo Spirito (the first mainland Italian hospital). From 1510 to 1511 da Vinci collaborated with the doctor Marcantonio della Torre (1481 to 1511). In 30 years, da Vinci dissected 30 male and female corpses of different ages. Together with Marcantonio, he prepared to publish a theoretical work on anatomy and made over 200 drawings. However, da Vinci's book was published only in 1580 (long after his death) under the heading Treatise on Painting.
Da Vinci drew many images of the human skeleton, and was the first to describe the "double S" form of the backbone. He also studied the inclination of pelvis and sacrum and stressed that sacrum was not uniform, but comprised of five vertebrae. Da Vinci was also able to represent exceptionally well the human skull and cross-sections of the brain (transversal, sagittal, and frontal). He drew many images of the lungs, mesentery, urinary tract, sex organs, and even coitus. Da Vinci was one of the first who drew fetuses in the intrauterine position (he wished to learn about "the miracle of pregnancy"). He often drew tendons of the cervical and shoulder muscles. Da Vinci was a master of topographic anatomy. He not only studied the anatomy of human, but also of other beings. It is important to note that he was not only interested in structure but also in function, so da Vinci was both anatomist and physiologist.Because he actively searched for bodily deformed people to paint them, da Vinci is also considered to be the beginner of caricature.
His study of human anatomy led also to the design of the first known robot in recorded history. Da vinci's design, which has come to be called Leonardo's robot, was probably made around the year 1495 but was rediscovered only in the 1950s. It is not known if an attempt was made to build the device. Da Vinci correctly worked out how heart valves eddy the flow of blood yet he was unaware of circulation as he believed that blood was pumped to the muscles where it was consumed. A diagram drawing da Vinci did of a heart inspired a British heart surgeon to pioneer a new way to repair damaged hearts in 2005.
Inventions and engineering
Fascinated by the phenomenon of flight, da Vinci produced detailed studies of the flight of birds, and plans for several flying machines, including a helicopter powered by four men (which would not have worked since the body of the craft would have rotated) and a light hang-glider which could have flown. On January 3, 1496 da Vinci unsuccessfully tested a flying machine he had constructed.
Owing to his employment as a military engineer, da Vinci's notebooks also contain several designs for military machines: machine guns, an armored tank powered by humans or horses, cluster bombs, etc. even though he later held war to be the worst of human activities. Other inventions include a submarine, a cog-wheeled device that has been interpreted as the first mechanical calculator, and a car powered by a spring mechanism. In da Vinci's years in the Vatican, he planned an industrial use of solar power, by employing concave mirrors to heat water. While most of da Vinci's inventions were not built during his lifetime, models of many of them have been constructed with the support of IBM and are on display at the Leonardo Da Vinci Museum at the Château du Clos Lucé in Amboise.
His notebooks
Da Vinci's notebooks were on four main themes; architecture, elements of mechanics, painting and human anatomy. These 'notebooks' - originally loose papers of different types and sizes, distributed by friends after his death - have found their way into major collections such as the Louvre, the Biblioteca Nacional de España, the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, and the British Library. The British Library has put a selection from its notebook (BL Arundel MS 263) on the web in its Turning the Pages section. The Codex Leicester is the only major scientific work of da Vinci's in private hands. It is owned by Bill Gates, and is displayed once a year in different cities around the world.
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