Leonardo Da Vinci
...lso made contributions to physics; he was a man of unchallenged technical genius. He stated that, “experimentation is vastly superior to speculation and book-learning and is the true basis of all scientific theories. Today in education it is widely known that students learn better when they experimented using the hands-on method rather than using a textbook or theory only. Leonardo Da Vinci’s machines were based on the writings of Aristotle and his own theory of impetus or energy of a moving body. Leonardo Da Vinci used Aristotle’s principals to explain the workings of simple machines, pulleys, levers, balancesand much more. These writings influenced Descartes. Leonardo Da Vinci proved that the relative weight of body placed on an inclined plane or ramp in inversely proportionate to the gradients or slope of the plane. These basic principals of physics are still used by scientists today. All these ideas could have been studied and solved algebraically but Leonardo never studied Algebra. “Perhaps he found it too difficult. By contrast, he was a true geometer and his extraordinary practical gifts in this field made up for his algebraic shortcomings.” In many of Leonardo Da Vinci’s writings there are examples that he studied many of the greats of history. He gained his mathematical knowledge through the studies of Eutcios and Valla who wrote about Archimedes. He also studied solids and their relationship with matter, after he read Nicholas of Cusa’s de “transmutationibus geometricies” written in 1450. Leonardo Da Vinci also solved Cusanius’ problem of cubes and prisms. Leonardo Da Vinci lived and worked during 1482-1499 in Milan with Donato Bramante the greatest builder of the time. Together these two men of genius created plans for some of the best of Renaissance architecture. These two brilliant men drew up plans for the Cathedral of Milan, the Cathedral of Florence, St. Peters Cathedral of Paira and many more. “Leonardo Da Vinci studied architecture all his life and yet he never built anything, yet his wide experience and knowledge of the subject brought him great fame.” Leonardo Da Vinci studied physics and his theories were very advanced for his time period. “While there is no doubt that many discoveries (for instance the discovery of inertia and of the law of falling bodies) have been wrongly attributed to him by Venturi, Libri, Pierre Duhem and, more recently, by V. Somenzi, there is no doubt that Leonardo Da Vinci’s work was far more important than the hypercritical scholars of Olschki and Dugas would suggest.” Again we see evidence that Leonardo Da Vinci did not contribute to physics although he was a student of Physics. Leonardo Da Vinci was a technical genius, he was famous for the statement that, “experiment is vastly superior to speculation and book learning and is the true basis of all scientific theories,” according to Alexander Koyre. However, once again Leonardo did not publish a single theoretical work at least none that have come down through history to us. As Leonardo Da Vinci was painting, studying, and experimenting with his scientific theories, he was also writing. In 1523, the Duke of Terrara was looking into the inheritance left by Leonardo Da Vinci that included, “those little books by Leonardo about anatomy and other interesting things.” Leonardo Da Vinci had written over five thousand pages of drawings and notes in his characteristic mirror-image handwriting, running from right to left. He left the largest collection of the entire Renaissance. In 1630, Pompeo Leoni, a sculptor at the Court of the King of Spain organized Da Vinci’s collection. In 1796, Napoleon ordered the manuscripts to be transferred to Paris. Other manuscripts were transferred to Paris, some went to Milan and some went to different places. Leonardo Da Vinci enjoyed the world. His art of human emotions and the physical world captivated him. “He is a born aristocrat among painters, sensitive to delicacy, with a feeling for fine hands.” No one expresses passion or expressions like Leonardo. “As a painter, he is never content to accept things merely by their outward appearances: he throws himself into investigating, with the same passionate interest ”. Leonardo Da Vinci was so creative and so sensitive that painting became for him a new technical method to the study the world around him. He became an experimenter who could not be satisfied. “He is said to have allowed the Mona Lisa to leave his studio before he considered it to be finished.” Leonardo Da Vinci left us with only a few of his paintings compared to his contemporaries. “Not only was the desire for perfection ever in his mind, but it operated to make him abandon works as soon as it appeared that the far-off standard would not be attained.” Other artists created different art forms, but none were as talented as Leonardo Da Vinci’s. Due to all his other studies he brought to art a knowledge of many other fields of study, “because he had so much more to do then paint he has left us all heirs to one or the supremest works of art ever created.” Leonardo Da Vinci’s art was influenced by Pollaiuolo’s scientific study of anatomy. Leonardo Da Vinci, according to the Anonimo Gaddiano practiced dissection at the hospital of S. Maria Nuova at Florence and made many drawings there .” Leonardo Da Vinci studied anatomy for an artistic purpose, a part of the artist’s full equipment or first hand knowledge as he called it. And Leonardo Da Vinci using his scientific study of the human body and art was able to lead to the advancement of medical science during his lifetime. In this area Gaddiano was wonderfully aided by the talent and labor of Leonardo, who made a book drawn with red chalk and annotated with the pen; wherein he showed all the structures of the bones, and added to these in order all the nerves and covered them with sets of muscles: the first attached to the bone…” As I read through all my notes and research, I am amazed at all his travels and his studies. Leonardo Da Vinci was a scientist using observation to study any and all scientific phenomena. “Leonardo Da Vinci is as alive today as he ever was.” The main problems in life cannot be solved by one group of scientists; it takes cooperation among all areas of science and more. Leonardo Da Vinci’s love of science and art made him a scientific creator. “Leonardo Da Vinci was a free mind and a great genius, yet he was bamboozled by Plato’s magic and Galen’s authority to the extent of seeing things that did not exist.” Leonardo Da Vinci’s love of science and art cannot be argued. His ideas were like seeds that failed to grow. They were buried in his notebooks and drawings. Leonardo never published any of his work. He never even put them into any kind of order. In 1651, two centuries after Leonardo Da Vinci’s birth, Queen Christina of Sweden published in Paris the, “Tra Hato Della Pittura,” a collection of 944 extracts of Leonardo Da Vinci’s notes. It was like an encyclopedia of anatomy. Leonardo Da Vinci was one of the greatest men of science in history but he was only famous for his art. His scientific investigations and th...