Leonardo da vinci and the science work - Research Paper Example

This paper details a brief account of Leonardo Da Vinci’s life, his achievements and discoveries and an analysis of his life based on the parts of creativity. Brief Biography Leonardo was born on 15th April, 1452, in Vinci, Italy, out of wedlock and raised by his father, ser Piero, and his step mother. In the modern sense, Leonardo had no surname and was named “da Vinci” meaning “of Vinci”. However, his full names were “Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci” implying “Leonardo, son of ser Peiro, from Vinci”.

Little literature is available about Leonardo’s early life. According to Vasari (23-32), Leonardo lived in Achiano, his mother’s home, for the first five years of his life and later moved to his father’s household in Vinci. His father had remarried numerous times. Fig. 1 Leonardo’s portrait Leonardo attained informal education on mathematics, geometry and Latin language. He joined Verrocchio’s workshop at the age of fourteen. He was exposed to chemistry, leather working, mechanics, carpentry, drawing, painting and metallurgy (Buchholz 35-40).

He graduated at the age of twenty as a qualified master in the union of doctors of medicine and artists. At the age of 22, court records indicate that Leonardo Da Vinci was charged and exonerated of sodomy (Vasari 58). In 1482, Leonardo was commissioned by Lorenzo de Medici to create a silver lyre in the shape of a horse’s head. . Within his life, his “great strength and generosity, outstanding physical beauty, and aspects of life” attracted the curiosity of many people (Vasari 67). Leonardo had numerous friends who are also renowned for their contributions in history and other fields.

He kept his private life discrete and was involved in numerous intimate relationships with his pupils. Accomplishments Buchholz (76) regards Leonardo as a genius and a renaissance man. Additionally, he is described as a man whose immeasurable inquisitiveness was made equal only by his powers of invention. Arguably, his talents stretched further than his artistic works. Like most of the renaissance leaders, he did not observe any separation and distinction between art and science. Leonardo is primarily known as a painter (Moon 83).

Two of his paintings, the Mona Lisa and The last Supper, are the most celebrated, reproduced and imitated paintings. Leonardo’s iconic drawing of the Vitruvian Man is renowned. He also made numerous notebooks where he made scientific drawings, and diagrams. However, since he did not publish his diagrams, nobody else knew about the whereabouts of the notebooks and, therefore, they were discovered long later after he had died (Capra 21). As an engineer, Leonardo’s thoughts and ideas were hugely in advance of his period.

He hypothesized a tank, a helicopter, solar power, calculator, and the elementary theory of plate tectonics. However, a few of his designs were feasible during his period. Some of his inventions came into the world of manufacturing unannounced and unpredicted. As a scientist, he immensely enhanced the state of knowledge on areas such as optics, hydrodynamics and anatomy (Capra 107-13). Leonardo was captivated by birds. He observed them, drew them