Leonardo da Vinci was an artist, architect, musician, writer, inventor, and scientist.
He is described as the archetype of "Renaissance Man". Leonardo is considered one of the greatest painters of all time and one of the most important in the Italian Renaissance. His curiosity and scientific inquiry were also well beyond his time.
Leonardo studied many different fields of the sciences including; aeronautics, anatomy, astronomy, botany, civil engineering, chemistry, geology, geometry, hydrodynamics, mathematics, mechanical engineering, optics, physics, pyrotechnics and zoology. As a scientist, Leonardo never studied Latin or mathematics, and never attended university. And because of this, he was greatly ignored by scientific scholars. Leonardo approached science through observation and detailed recording. He recorded his ideas in a series of journals that he wrote in almost daily. Most of these journals were written backwards in mirror script.
The study of natural science was a great part in Leonardo's life. This includes light, human anatomy, comparative anatomy, botany, geology, hydrodynamics, and astrology. As an artist working in the 15th century, study of natural light was necessary. They understood light and shadows could be used to show three-dimensions on a two-dimensional medium. However, it was unusual for paintings to have a huge contrast of light and shade. Faces were usually shadowed in a bland manner. Leonardo broke out of this and his paintings: The Lady with an Ermine, The Virgin of the Rocks, and the Mona Lisa, all changed the way artists percieved light in their paitings, forever.
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...to obtain a true and perfect knowledge [of the vascular system]... I have dissected more than ten human bodies, destroying all the other members, and removing the very minutest particles of the flesh by which these veins are surrounded, ... and as one single body would not last so long, since it was necessary to proceed with several bodies by degrees, until I came to an end and had a complete knowledge; this I repeated twice, to learn the differences...[3]
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Leonardo da Vinci was taught how to draw the human body from life and to memorize the muscles and tendons. He did many studies of the human skeleton. He dissected and drew the human skull and cross-sections of the brain, transversal, sagittal, and frontal. Leonardo was also one of the first to draw a scientific representation of a fetus. His study of human anatomy led to the design of the first robot in recorded history.
Model of Leonardo's robot with inner workings
Leonardo da Vinci brought in new ideas with his inquisitive mind. The Renaissance was a "rebirth" and da Vinci's new ideas were a rebirth in art and science.
He is described as the archetype of "Renaissance Man". Leonardo is considered one of the greatest painters of all time and one of the most important in the Italian Renaissance. His curiosity and scientific inquiry were also well beyond his time.
Leonardo studied many different fields of the sciences including; aeronautics, anatomy, astronomy, botany, civil engineering, chemistry, geology, geometry, hydrodynamics, mathematics, mechanical engineering, optics, physics, pyrotechnics and zoology. As a scientist, Leonardo never studied Latin or mathematics, and never attended university. And because of this, he was greatly ignored by scientific scholars. Leonardo approached science through observation and detailed recording. He recorded his ideas in a series of journals that he wrote in almost daily. Most of these journals were written backwards in mirror script.
The study of natural science was a great part in Leonardo's life. This includes light, human anatomy, comparative anatomy, botany, geology, hydrodynamics, and astrology. As an artist working in the 15th century, study of natural light was necessary. They understood light and shadows could be used to show three-dimensions on a two-dimensional medium. However, it was unusual for paintings to have a huge contrast of light and shade. Faces were usually shadowed in a bland manner. Leonardo broke out of this and his paintings: The Lady with an Ermine, The Virgin of the Rocks, and the Mona Lisa, all changed the way artists percieved light in their paitings, forever.
Leonardo da Vinci was taught how to draw the human body from life and to memorize the muscles and tendons. He did many studies of the human skeleton. He dissected and drew the human skull and cross-sections of the brain, transversal, sagittal, and frontal. Leonardo was also one of the first to draw a scientific representation of a fetus. His study of human anatomy led to the design of the first robot in recorded history.
Leonardo da Vinci brought in new ideas with his inquisitive mind. The Renaissance was a "rebirth" and da Vinci's new ideas were a rebirth in art and science.
Other links:
http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96apr/leonardo.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci_-_scientist_and_inventor