Leonardo was born in the town of Vinci, Italy on April 15, 1452. The life and work of this great Italian Renaissance man has endlessly enthralled people, even those of later generations. The immense scope of his achievement was only discovered in recent years, since in the past he was only chiefly regarded for his sketches, paintings, murals, and art theories. However, upon closer inspection, Leonardo da Vinci’s studies and notes have actually massive contributions to science today. Indeed, he was a man ahead of his time, both in thought and practice.
In his earlier years, Leonardo must have already displayed great artistic talent as he was apprenticed to Andrea Verrocchio, a leading Renaissance master, when he was just 17 years old. After about a few years working and honing his skills in Florence, Leonardo then left for Milan and worked for a Duke there for nearly 18 years. He worked as a court artist, continuing his work by painting portraits, designing festivals, and sculpting monuments.
However, even with his many artistic duties, Leonardo also showed a deep interest in non-artistic matters during this period. In addition to applying his working knowledge of mechanics as a civil and military engineer, he also took up anatomy, biology, mathematics, physics, and other diverse scientific fields. However, even amidst all of these activities, Leonardo da Vinci was still able to complete his single most important painting, The Last Supper, which was the centerpiece painting of the fictional book The Da Vinci Code.
In the years to come, Leonardo would experience going back to Florence because of the French occupation before revisiting Milan for another 7 years. During this time, his scientific research began to dominate most of his activities, so much so that all of his artistic ventures started to be directed towards scientific illustrations. It was through his sketches, for example, that he sought to express his perception of the structure of things.
In the discovery of two more notebooks in Madrid only in the year 1965, it was revealed that Leonardo explored practically every field of science. His manuscripts contained the constructions of canals and fortifications, the grinding of lenses, and other such practical solutions for everyday problems. But aside from this, he also had revolutionary ideas that will not come into manifestation until hundreds of years after his death: ideas such as flying machines and automation.
During his time, Leonardo da Vinci was mostly known for his art and art theories. It was only a modern rediscovery in the 20th century, when his manuscripts and other vast quantity of notes became known that he was soon considered to have had an impressive contribution to the natural world and science. Leonardo’s art and science were once thought of as separate entities of the artist’s craft, but then nowadays people believe that they were actually one and the same thing. It is now believed that both Leonardo’s art and science belong to the same lifelong pursuit of truthful information and knowledge. Leonardo da Vinci was, indeed, one of the most creative and forward-thinking minds of his time.