The Magnificent Leonardo davinci. Leonardo di sir Piero da Vinci, commonly known as Leonardo da Vinci, was a

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1 Fields 1 Kim Fields Math 101 Section April 2016 The Magnificent Leonardo davinci Leonardo di sir Piero da Vinci, commonly known as Leonardo da Vinci, was a multitalented Renaissance man. Leonardo Da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452, in the town of Vinci, Italy. As a child, Leonardo received very little education that was beyond basic English, reading, writing, and mathematics skills. Da Vinci was most famous for his artwork including, Mona Lisa and The Last Supper paintings. In today s society, these legendary paintings are still well-known and have influenced numerous artists around the world. In addition to being a spectacular artist, he was also an inventor, engineer, mathematician, scientist, and so much more. Although Leonardo was famous for his artwork pieces, he was also quite an inventor. He was very interested in studying the fields of science and technology. According to author Christopher Lampton, Leonardo da Vinci may well have been the greatest inventor in history, yet he had very little effect on the technology of his time (Lampton). Da Vinci kept a notebook where he would draw his sketches as well as diagrams of all his inventions. It was as if he had a code, known as codices, due to his words written backwards and they must be read from right to left. Unfortunately, it is unknown whether Leonardo lost interest or was not financially able to construct his ideas. It is a shame because his designs were incredibly beyond his time. Even though the plans of his inventions were made on paper, they were never practiced until after his death. In fact, no one else had known about his brilliant ideas until quite some time after his death when his notebooks were discovered. Today, engineers have started to build models of

2 Fields 2 Leonardo s remarkable machines that may have transformed the history of technology and many of them seem to actually work. In addition to being an inventor, Leonardo da Vinci was a scientist and mathematician. Da Vinci believed that mathematics was an important aspect for painting. Some of his contributions include the calculator, parachutes, the flight of birds, and machine guns. Of course, technology was very limited at the time, but he still persisted to make all sorts of plans. In 1968, Dr. Guatelli was hired to make a replica of Leonardo da Vinci s calculating device. This device was displayed in an exhibition and by it, the text read: Device for Calculation: An early version of today's complicated calculator, Leonardo's mechanism maintains a constant ratio of ten to one in each of its 13 digit-registering wheels. For each complete revolution of the first handle, the unit wheel is turned slightly to register a new digit ranging from zero to nine. Consistent with the ten to one ratio, the tenth revolution of the first handle causes the unit wheel to complete its first revolution and register zero, which in turn drives the decimal wheel from zero to one. Each additional wheel marking hundreds, thousands, etc., operates on the same ratio. Slight refinements were made on Leonardo s original sketch to give the viewer a clear picture of how each of the 13 wheels can be independently operated and yet maintain the ten to one ratio. Leonardo s sketch shows weights to demonstrate the equability of the machine (Cyber Heroes of the Past). Leonardo was intrigued by the thought of human flight. From his drawings in his notebook, he came up with the design of a parachute so people were able to gracefully float through the air with a low terminal velocity and be able to survive the fall without injury. The parachute he created had a pyramid-shaped structure that was covered with cloth. Leonardo was

3 Fields 3 also fascinated with the flight of birds as he would watch and sketch them. This lead to a device called the ornithopter, which allowed human beings to soar through the sky like a bird. As da Vinci studied these birds, he imagined great plans for machines that were able to fly that resembled helicopters and hang gliders. Another sketch consisted of Leonardo da Vinci s 33- barrelled organ, or machine gun, which was not able to rapidly fire bullets from a single barrel, rather it delivered punishing volleys of gunfire at rapid intervals (Lampton). Da Vinci was not fond of the thought of war, but he was in desperate need of money so he convinced wealthy consumers that these machine guns would in fact help them defeat their opponents in combat. Leonardo da Vinci enjoyed solving and calculating equations by using geographical shapes. His main quest in mathematics was exploring proportionality along with spatial mechanics. Math is the tool to produce a product; therefore, Leonardo favored drawing as his crucial tool to perform these studies. This specific technique of drawing mathematics is used all over the world. A prime example would be the pyramids of Egypt and incorporating the Pythagorean Theorem. In addition, Da Vinci contributed and perfected the idea of perspective. As a general rule, he believed that when positioning a painting, it should be at eye level for the observer. Leonardo also formed drawings that were of geometrical shape and had a mathematical importance which were in engraved plate form and then used in printing presses. The produced work was named Divina Proportione and was published in Leonardo da Vinci was an extremely interesting man of his time. He was an amazing painter, artist, inventor, mathematician, scientist, and engineer. Da Vinci s artwork is still discussed and displayed all over the world. Though he did not have the chance to actually build from his sketches and diagrams, he provided us with framework. Indeed, if these ideas had been put to the test they would have revolutionized technology.

4 Original sketch of Leonardo s calculator Fields 4

5 Fields 5 Works Cited History.com Staff. "Leonardo Da Vinci." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 01 Jan Web. 01 Apr Lampton, Christopher. "Top 10 Leonardo Da Vinci Inventions." Top 10 Leonardo Da Vinci Inventions. N.p., 21 June Web. 30 Mar "Leonardo Da Vinci Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 01 Apr "Leonardo Da Vinci." Cyber Heroes of the Past:. N.p., 25 May Web. 01 Apr "Leonardo Da Vinci Mathematician! His Studies in Higher Mathematics!" Leonardo Da Vinci Mathematician! His Studies in Higher Mathematics! N.p., 07 June 09. Web. 29 Mar