renaissance-art:

Leonardo da Vinci c. 1505

Codex on the Flight of Birds

Leonardo da Vinci was extremely interested in crafting a machine that allowed flight. In order to learn more about flying he studied the movements of birds. The entire codex is 18 pages long. He wrote down the way birds moved and glided with corresponding sketches.  Leonardo tried various inventions that would enable flight but was ultimately unsuccessful. Despite this his observations were centuries ahead of his time; realizing that air and water are both fluids and recognizing Newton’s first law (an object at rest remains at rest unless acted on by an outside force). One factor that aided his genius was that he was never formally educated and therefore was spared from many of the intellectual preconceptions that were incorrect (such as birds sink to the bottom of lakes in winter when they in fact migrate) and could formulate his own ideas freely. Sadly none of his  work had an impact on Renaissance science because he never published his findings. This was a personal notebook with mirrored script (the writing is backwards and must be looked at through a mirror in order to be seen correctly). While it was possible that Leonardo wanted to one day share his studies his work remained private.