leonardo davinci

Leonardo Da Vinci was a man extremely ahead of his time, many of his remarkable studies and inventions still influence us today. He was a scientist, an inventor, a musician, and one of the world’s most famous painters. Leonardo had observed and studied all of nature, these observations inspired him to mimic nature and design the most remarkable inventions. Most of his inventions were ideas scribbled down, but even from those scribbled notes we are able to gather information to help improve inventions of the modern world.
Besides being an inventor, Leonardo was a famous painter. Both the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper are two paintings that he created that we can still see and enjoy today. These paintings help to portray himself and capture the history of the time period. He was one of very few people at the time of the Renaissance to study nature and gain knowledge rather than rely upon tradition.
All of Leonardo’s ideas for inventions have helped us gain advances in medicine, architecture, the space program, and astronomy. He designed a several man-powered aircraft. He wanted to give people the ability to fly like the birds he studied. Four hundred years later the Wright Brothers become famous for creating an engine powered aircraft that could carry a person in the sky. Leonardo Da Vinci also came up with the idea of creating a single span bridge, or a triangular truss bridge which could hold more weight than the original square design. In our modern world we use the triangular truss bridge because it can hold more weight for a longer distance. Before the invention of modern tanks, Leonardo designed a tank after studying the way turtles used their shells to protect themselves. In World War I the British Navy developed the first tank, well the first to ever appear in a war. There is much discussion on whether or not Leonardo invented the bicycle. It is believed that a pupil drew a picture of a bicycle after studying a bicycle prototype in Leonardo’s workshop. But it is definite that he had come up with many parts that are used to build bicycles today, such as gears and chains. In 1870 James Starley is credited as the father of the British bicycle industry. Many of James’ inventions led us closer to the bicycles we ride today. The helical screw is the name given to Leonardo’s early version of the helicopter. Just like today’s helicopters it uses the same principle for compressing air to achieve lift off. Unfortunately, the weight of his machine and the man-powered mechanics would have prevented real flight. In 1907 Paul Cornu built the very first helicopter to lift off vertically. It was made using a bicycle and hovered one foot off the ground for twenty seconds.
In the medical field Leonardo discovered and diagrammed accurate examples of vortex formation in the blood. He was able to discover this without using modern imaging technology, but instead his discovery was through detailed body dissection and stimulated water experiments.
Even though never tested, Leonardo created a triangular shaped parachute used for traveling from high to low surfaces. He came up with this idea after studying birds and the way they traveled. In 1705 Jean-Pierre Blanchard created the original all-fabric parachute and was able to prove that it could provide safe-escape from a hot-air balloon. In many ways all of these designs helped to create a more modern version of what Leonardo Da Vinci first came up with. To prove that his ideas could work, several of his ideas are being built and tested today and they are working. Its amazing how this man lived so long ago, but still greatly influences us and teaches us ways to observe different things in nature. Even though about two-thirds of his notes are still missing, what he has given us is a huge insight to connect mankind to nature. Leonardo Da Vinci is a very important figure in history and during his lifetime he was a man of unlimited interests and talents that we are still benefiting from today.