Leonardo Da Vinci

Inventions such as an armored tank, a hang-glider, and a mechanical calculator were kept as sketches in his notebook and were unknown until the 20th Century (Leonardo da Vinci). If, however, Da Vinci had published these works during his lifetime and were made known to the public, then history would have changed drastically and the world would not be as we see it today. No doubt about it, Leonardo da Vinci had a tremendous effect and influence on modern science.

Born in the town of Vinci, Italy in 1942, his father was a successful Florentine notary and he was mainly raised by his grandparents. As a child, he was mainly self-taught with little formal education. At the age of 17, he went to Florence to become the apprentice of a famous sculptor and designer named Andrea del Verrochio whose patron was Tuscany's ruling family. Over the next eight years, Da Vinci was taught architecture, costume design, mechanics, painting, metallurgy, goldsmithing, and anatomy (The Life And Times of Leonardo Da Vinci). Verrochio insisted that all his students learn anatomy and Da Vinci was quite successful at it (Leonardo da Vinci). In 1472, he was promoted from apprentice to master and in 1478, he was commissioned for a painting in a chapel in Signoria.

Despite the fact that he was an artist, he loved daydreaming and came up with new scientific ideas whenever he did so. At the age of 19, he went to Milan to serve under Ludovico Il Moro as engineer and architect. He became the city's most important artist when the plague struck the city. When war came to Milan, he became the urban planner to design a new city with heating, sewage, an automated, street wash and transport. He also worked for 15 years on a statue in honor of Il Moro's father. Since Il Moro was at war, the bronze was eventually melted and used to make cannons. This was one of Leonardo's major disappointments (The Life And Times of Leonardo Da Vinci). This was the first period in Da Vinci life when he was mainly famous and respected as an artist, but he had already made scientific inventions and sketches in his notebook. Later on, these sketches would amaze, impress, and influence many scientists.

While Da Vinci was staying in Milan, he became very interested in geometry and has read Pacioli's Divina Proportione, a book on geometry. Because of his new interest in geometry, Da Vinci spent less time painting and more on geometry (O'Connor, Robertson). As he lived in Milan, he filled his notebooks with scientific sketches, discoveries, and inventions. During this time period, he also became fascinated with flight. As a kid, Da Vinci was always marveled with the flying of a kite and his fascination for flying were recorded in his notebook (The Life And Times of Leonardo Da Vinci). By this time, he was already realizing the possibility of building a telescope and it was recorded in both his Codex Alanticus and his Codex Arundel. In both books, Da Vinci wrote about making a device to enlarge the moon. He also understood the fact that the moon shown because it is reflected by the sun and he correctly explained the old moon and new moon's arms as the surface of the moon is illuminated by the earth (O'Connor, Robertson). His knowledge was not limited by just astronomy - he proved even more skilled at anatomy. Around the year of 1495, in his notebook, he designed the first recorded robot in history. Known as Leonardo's robot, it was later discovered in the 1950s. He correctly worked out how the heart valves eddy the flow of blood but was, however, unaware of circulation as he believed the blood was pumped to the muscles where it was consumed (Leonardo da Vinci). By then, he was already one of the greatest inventors and scientists ever but only he himself was aware of the fact.

In 1499, Il Moro and Milan fell to the French and Leonardo was forced to move to Florence where he served under Cesar Borgia. In 1502, he produced a drawing of a single span 240-meter bridge for Sultan Beyazid II of Constantinople. The bridge, however, was never built during his time but in 2001, a smaller bridge based on his design was built in Norway. In 1506, he returned to Milan, under France, and King Louis XII gave him the title “Royal Painter and Engineer”. Under the French king, he was given much freedom and was allowed to do whatever he wanted. As a result, he did not paint at all except for the paintings that he brought with him, St. John the Baptist, Mona Lisa, and Virgin and the Child with St. Anne.