While many people try to put human talent in the field of science or art, Leonardo da Vinci believes that both have profound effects on each other. His scientific research helped him to describe the world in a very natural way, while his artist eyes have a new perspective on that world. For da Vinci, the mechanism of the inner workings of a machine is just as important as the smile of the Mona Lisa.
From anatomical drawings to "robotic knights", here is how da Vinci changed his society and ours.
He helps us understand the human body
The painting "Vitruvian Man" in Leonardo Da Vinci’s Proportional Study circa 1490. (Image: Universal History Archive / UIG via Getty Images)
Da Vinci’s lifelong obsession with surgery began when he was a child, during his apprenticeship with one of the leading Renaissance painters, Andrea del Verrocchio. Not long after, da Vinci surpassed his master, and he sketched and drew surprisingly accurate descriptions of the human body.
In order to accomplish this, da Vinci had a notebook that records muscle and ligament studies. He dissected dozens of corpses to create detailed drawings of the skeleton, skull and bones. He also studied physiology, modeled the human brain and heart with wax to better understand how blood flows in the circulatory system and created some of the first drawings of human organs, including the appendix, reproductive organs and lungs.
Later in his career, da Vinci applied this knowledge to one of his most famous works. His drawing of "Vitruvian Man" is a model of the human body with perfect proportions. The work was inspired by an ancient Roman architect who had the same view as da Vinci who believed that the proportions found in the human body should also be applied to the design and construction of building.
He foresaw the era of "mankind conquering the sky".
More than 400 years before the Wright brothers made a flight at Kitty Hawk, da Vinci devised a way to send a man to the sky.
He designed one of the first parachutes, a pyramidal object made of wooden sticks and covered with cloth to slow the landing. According to his record, this design allows people to jump down from any height without being injured. And it took nearly three centuries for us to build the first usable parachute. Da Vinci’s design was finally tested in 2000 - and it worked.
Anatomy and physiology are just a few of da Vinci’s many inspirations. He used in-depth research on birds and bats to design a flying machine called the Ornithopter, in which a person would be tied to a wooden set of wings that they could flap on to fly. suspended in the air. However, Da Vinci never made a working prototype.
Da Vinci recorded extensive studies of gravity when humans conquered the sky. He left behind many glider designs that humans could use, and his work influenced later aerodynamic research. Da Vinci tried to solve this problem through compressed air. He designed a device called an "aerial propeller", the precursor of today’s helicopters, which is said to be able to fly into the air by rotating a support stake, supported by two keepers. The rotary platform underneath works.
He makes many weapons today we can recognize
The "33-barreled organ" of da Vinci. (Image: SSPL / Getty Images)
Military engineering is one of da Vinci’s greatest passions. He works with many patrons and city leaders, designing bridges, military structures and weapons.
Although he wrote he hated the horrors of war, the first machine gun appeared in his potentially deadly designs. (Like many da Vinci designs, machine guns are just sketches.) Known as the "33-barreled organ", it was divided into 3 rows, each with 11 guns, each gun facing in different directions. The device was designed to be mounted on a rotating mobile platform that helped cool the gun, and it was considered the first artillery weapon. Besides, da Vinci also had the idea of designing a big crossbow. With a width of over 80 feet, his idea was to use this crossbow to throw stones or bombs rather than shoot arrows.
Da Vinci’s design for an armored vehicle had been in front of tanks for centuries. It was a metal armored vehicle mounted on a rotating platform powered by manpower (it could hold up to 8 people), with open spaces for the soldiers inside to arrange their weapons. Da Vinci even combined his military and scientific interests when creating a design called a "robot knight" operated by gears and cables. In 2002, a NASA robot expert used Vinci’s design to create a working model.
He also has some more practical ideas
Sketches of da Vinci’s bridge. (Image: SSPL / Getty Images)
Although many of da Vinci’s designs seem far-fetched, he also improves on the ideas and objects we use today. He created early versions of scissors, movable bridges, diving suits, a mirror grinding machine similar to a telescope device, and a screw machine.
He also built some of the first (to measure the speed of earth) and the first anemometer (to measure wind speed). Da Vinci used a odometer to measure distances, the equipment he used to create very detailed military maps; This is also another special skill of a great multi-talented Renaissance man.
