Leonardo da Vinci
On the Philosophy, Art & Science of Leonardo da Vinci

Human subtlety will never devise an invention more beautiful, more simple or more direct than does Nature, because in her inventions, nothing is lacking and nothing is superfluous.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

In dealing with a scientific problem, I first arrange several experiments, and then show with reasons why such an experiment must necessarily operate in this and in no other way. This is the method which must be followed in all research upon the phenomenon of nature. We must consult experience in the variety of cases and circumstances until we can draw from them a general rule that is contained in them. And for what purposes are these rules good? They lead us to further investigations of nature and to creations of art. They prevent us from deceiving ourselves and others by promising results which are not obtainable. (Leonardo da Vinci)

Life, Art & Ideas of Leonardo da Vinci:
A Brief Biography

Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519)

Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance architect, musician, anatomist, inventor, engineer, sculptor, geometer, painter (and a very cool talented artistic creative scientist / philosopher!).

Leonardo is famous for his masterly paintings, such as The Last Supper and Mona Lisa. He is also known for designing many inventions that anticipated modern technology, although few of these designs were constructed in his lifetime. In addition, he helped advance the study of anatomy, astronomy, and civil engineering. Renaissance humanism saw no mutually exclusive polarities between sciences and arts.

Leonardo da Vinci’s studies in science and engineering were recorded in notebooks comprising some 13,000 pages of notes and drawings. These notes were made and maintained through Leonardo's travels through Europe, during which he made continual observations of the world around him. His approach to science was an observatory one: he tried to understand a phenomenon by describing and depicting it in utmost detail, and did not emphasize experiments or theoretical explanations. Since he lacked formal education in Latin and mathematics, contemporary scholars mostly ignored Leonardo the scientist.

da Vinci started to discover the anatomy of the human body at the time he was apprenticed to Andrea del Verrocchio, (at age fourteen) as his art teacher insisted that all his pupils learn anatomy. Fascinated by the phenomenon of flight, Leonardo produced detailed studies of the flight of birds, and plans for several flying machines, including a helicopter powered by four men and a light hang-glider.

In 1502 Leonardo da Vinci produced a drawing of a single span 720-foot (240 m) bridge as part of a civil engineering project for Sultan Beyazid II of Constantinople. Owing to his sometime employment as a military engineer, his notebooks also contain several designs for military machines: guns, an armoured tank, cluster bombs, etc. even though he later held war to be the worst of human activities. Other inventions include a submarine, a cog-wheeled device that has been interpreted as the first mechanical calculator, and a car powered by a spring mechanism. In his years in the Vatican, he planned an industrial use of solar power, by employing concave mirrors to heat water.

Why Leonardo did not publish or otherwise distribute the contents of his notebooks remains a mystery to those who believe that Leonardo wanted to make his observations public knowledge. They remained obscure until the 19th century, and were not directly of value to the development of science and technology. Leonardo da Vinci will nonetheless be remembered as the archetype of the "Renaissance man".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_vinci

Leonardo da Vinci Quotes, Paintings & Pictures

The painter's mind is a copy of the divine mind, since it operates freely in creating the many kinds of animals, plants, fruits, landscapes, countrysides, ruins, and awe-inspiring places by promising results which are not obtainable.

Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen.

For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return.

As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death.

Iron rusts from disuse; water loses its purity from stagnation... even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind.

I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do. (Leonardo da Vinci)