Page 69 - All About History - Issue 11-14
P. 69
Da Vinci’s genius inventions
ne of the greatest minds the world he nearly always supplied an accompanying
has ever seen, Leonardo da Vinci image, using his skills as an artist to complement
was a leader across all the cultural his technological mind. As da Vinci scholar Fritjof
fields the Renaissance period Capra put it: “[His science] cannot be understood
O is so celebrated for. A polymath without his art, nor his art without the science.”
of peerless intellect, there was no corner of art, As a forerunner in science and mathematics,
science or philosophy that he didn’t explore to he developed numerous innovations that others
some degree, often excelling in whatever he would take decades and even centuries to
turned his hand to. However, it’s only in the past develop. Though sometimes rudimentary and
century that the mysteries of the great man’s work often impractical, these inventions formed the
have truly been understood. first sparks of ideas that would change the world
Though his genius as a visual artist is admired forever, including the self-propelling cart, the
throughout the world – his portfolio including flying machine and even the robot knight.
LEONARDO DA VINCI some of the most famous pieces ever known Where da Vinci’s scrawled designs and intricate
Italian, 1452-1519 such as The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa – it notes weren’t copied outright by the generations
only offers a glimpse of his abilities. Leonardo’s of inventors to come, they inspired greater
Born on 15 April 1452, notebooks contain pages upon pages of sketches, innovations that changed lives in ways even he
Brief in Tuscany, Leonardo annotations, notes, formulas and workings, all couldn’t possibly have dreamt of. Even some of
da Vinci was first
Bio apprenticed to a written in his now-iconic backward-mirror writing. his less practical or conventional ideas, such as
sculptor in Florence,
where he learned his trade as They tell the story of the man’s endeavours to an early version of the modern armoured tank,
an artist. He lived and worked understand the world around him, from detailed have since been rediscovered and proved to have
in Florence, Milan, Venice and illustrations of foetuses in the womb to in-depth worked, despite the fact that their present-day
Rome, working under patronage
on his inventions and artistic plans for mechanical flight. While many would equivalents were only realised centuries after the
masterpieces, before moving to separate these two pursuits, the art from the great man’s time. His worth as a leader in science
France at the invitation of King science, da Vinci saw them as one and the same. and technology, within his period and far beyond
Francis I, where he died in 1519.
Wherever he outlined his theories or inventions, it, cannot be overstated.
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