 |
| Leonardo da Vinci: Little is known of his personal life. |
Fascinated by fossils, keen on
cutting up cadavers, inventor of machines of war, and painter of two of
the most famous artworks in the world, Leonardo da Vinci died 500 years
ago this week. Today, those keen on diverse subjects may be dismissed as
dilettantes, but the term “Renaissance Man” was coined for Leonardo
(and not simply because he lived during the Renaissance). It is one that
might well worth reviving today.
Invention may now
seem to have been easier back in the 1450s. With a pen and a sketchbook
you could have a stab at coming up with pretty much anything: flying
machines, the parachute, a helicopter, armoured cars, multi-barrelled
guns, scuba diving equipment, new types of bridges, drainage systems . .
. Leonardo had a go at them all, although it would take hundreds of
years for some, such as the helicopter, to be successfully developed. He
also perfected clocks and maps, investigated cirrhosis of the liver,
and made the first drawing of the thyroid gland.
The question for
any would-be inventor, however, is not what technologies are available,
but what needs to be done to change the world, and what might you create
to go about doing it. That part is timeless, whether the tools at your
disposal are quantum mechanics, nano particles, or pen and ink. It is
Leonardo’s questing mind, his penetrating observation, great humanity,
as well as his extraordinary abilities that shaped his genius.
Posts
1 comment:
Gotta luv Leonardo!
Great stuff!
Post a Comment