Leonardo da Vinci's Sketches and Their Afterlives: From Parachute Tests to Modern Robotics
Leonardo da Vinci's engineering sketches in his codices foreshadowed machinery that was later developed in various ways. In June 2000, British skydiver Adrian Nicholas constructed a pyramid-shaped parachute from the Codex Atlanticus, successfully descending from 10,000 feet in Mpumalanga, South Africa, for five minutes. A self-supporting bridge made of notched wooden poles was rebuilt in Denmark. Although Leonardo's helical air screw, created in the 1480s, was never able to fly, Igor Sikorsky's VS-300, which took to the skies in 1939, featured a tail rotor. Additionally, an armored vehicle sketched in the Codex Arundel around 1487 predates the tank by over 400 years. Leonardo became part of the French court in 1516 and passed away in Amboise in 1519 at the age of 67. His designs for an ornithopter and a bronze equestrian monument were never brought to life.
Key facts
- Adrian Nicholas tested a replica of Leonardo's pyramid parachute in June 2000, jumping from 10,000 feet over Mpumalanga, South Africa
- The self-supporting bridge uses notched poles locked by load, with no screws, nails or rope, and a Danish replica carries real weight
- Leonardo's helical air screw appears in Manuscript B, drawn in the 1480s
- Igor Sikorsky's VS-300 flew in 1939 with a tail rotor to cancel torque
- The armored vehicle was sketched in the Codex Arundel around 1487; British tanks first saw combat in 1916 at the Somme
- Mark Rosheim reconstructed the mechanical knight in 2002 from notes that surfaced in the 1950s
- The mechanical lion was presented to King Francis I of France and displayed fleurs-de-lys from its chest
- Leonardo moved to Cloux in Amboise in 1516 and died there three years later at age 67
Entities
Artists
- Leonardo da Vinci
- Adrian Nicholas
- Igor Sikorsky
- Mark Rosheim
- Francesco Sforza
- Ludovico Sforza
- Giuliano de' Medici
- Francis I of France
- Roberto Valturio
- Louis-Sébastien Lenormand
- André-Jacques Garnerin
- Sultan Bayezid II
- Wright brothers
Institutions
- Quartz
- Codex Atlanticus
- Codex Arundel
- Manuscript B
- Codice sul volo degli uccelli
- British Army
- Ottoman court
- Medici family
Locations
- Mpumalanga
- South Africa
- Denmark
- Milan
- Italy
- Venice
- Constantinople
- Amboise
- France
- Cloux
- Golden Horn
- Somme
- Britain
Sources
- Quartz —