The Inventions of Leonardo da Vinci

Author: Charles-Gibbs Smith
The Inventions of Leonardo da Vinci
Charles Scribner's Sons
1978
Format: PDF
Pages: 116
Language: English
Size: 71 MB

As an inventor Leonardo was an astonishing genius. Although he lived over 450 years ago he foresaw the coming of advanced technology , and filled his notebooks with thousands of drawings for new machines and weapons, many of which anticipate twentieth-century engineering techniques. We see him designing armoured tanks, steam guns, ballistic missiles, flying machines, parachutes, helicopters, underwater diving suits, water turbines, movable cranes, lifting jacks, gearboxes. Each of his inventions is a continuous source of wonder and excitement, displaying both Leonardo's awesome intelligence and an incredible anticipation of the future. An expert commentary by Charles Gibbs-Smith and Gareth Rees, who wrote many of the captions, guides us to a fuller understanding of the design ideas behind the inventions, and the clarity and enthusiasm of their text make this an ideal reference book for the historian of technology or the would-he inventor. Also included in this book are some of Leonardo's beautiful drawings from nature.