Everybody considers Leonardo Da Vinci as the greatest artist of all times, the painter of Mona Lisa, Last Supper and many other paintings. But Leonardo Da Vinci was also a true scientific genius. He has been called by some the world's greatest all round genius. From his boyhood he showed his unique talent both as a scientist and as an artist. In his boyhood he was a collector of insect specimens. He would bring his "Catch" home where he studied those and drew sketches of each specimen. His father Piero Da Vinci took some of his son's detailed and
life-like drawings to show them to the famous artist and sculptor, Andrea Del Verrocchio. The artist was so pleased that Piero decided to engage Leonardo in Verrocchio's studio as an apprentice. The famous artist was a master of many artistic crafts like sculpture, architecture, painting and making of armours and toys. So young Leonardo developed
rapidly his knowledge of craftsmanship and power of observation which were encouraged by his teacher. Soon Leonardo became aware of his inadequate education. After his day's hard work he would study in the night. His subjects were mathematics,astronomy, botany, hydraulics,movement and weight. When he was an apprentice, he began his
famous Notes' where he used a secret writing of his own to keep his findings, observations and proportions. These became readable only when held up to a mirror. Perhaps his left-handedness was the animals and. stopped eating meat because of his ause of such a peculiar habit. He was a lover of great love for them. He also bought caged birds only to free them. But many critics say that actually his purpose was to observe their mode of flight with deep concentration and care so that he might be able to make a flying machine for human beings. He wrote about his observations on bird's flight, fish's swimming and air currents. Thus "Leonardo was able to define the Principle of Action and Reaction as applied to aerodynamic phenomena two hundred years before Newton propounded his Third
Law of Motion." He had ideas to make the Arno River navigable all the way from Florence to Pisa by digging canals. By this process Florence would get an outlet to the sea and some of the water from Arno River which could be used for irrigation and he successfully temporarily diverted the river during the war between the Italian city-states of Pisa and Florence in 1503. How many among us know about this civil engineer and scientist? His drawings and
studies of human anatomy were so accurate and advanced that now a days modern scientists still respect him as their guide and teacher.
