Leonardo 2. Learning from the master

Being engaged and active in politics seems like the correct behavior of a responsible adult in a democratic society. But I am reading a very good book “Leonardo da Vinci”, by Walter Isaacson (it is written exceptionally well and settles so many disputes – at least for me – around the great man) and I see how little Leonardo was involved in politics. Meanwhile, he was a very able person, a very perceptive observer, who saw things as they are much better than a vast majority of other people. And yet, with all his smarts, he stayed away from politics.

Well, the Italian society of his time was not exactly democratic. But it seems that his type of personality and interests would keep him out of the fighting ring of politics today in our current environment too.

As an example of his many impressive abilities, he was able to notice that some species of birds move their wings faster on the way up, while others – on the way down. I look at a bird and see it just flapping wings up and down with the same speed. But he has noticed the difference. Amazing! (And without any politics!)

The image is from the “Codex on the Flight of Birds.” Credit Biblioteca Reale, Torino

He also, by just observing the birds, came to the conclusion that they were able to fly up not because they pushed air down, thus projecting the body up. No. He noticed that the wings pushed the birds forward. The upward movement happens because of the shape of their wings (similar to an airplane wing). The wing is profiled so that the upper surface sticks up more than the lower surface sticks down. The air stream along the upper surface has a longer path than the stream along the lower surface. Which means, Leonardo concluded correctly (you can read it in his notebook), that the upper flow has to move faster and, thus, generates less pressure on the wing than lower flow. The difference in pressure produces a lift.

Pushing the body horizontally requires overcoming only the air resistance, while pushing yourself up requires also overcoming the gravity. That is why birds have a hard time starting flying. They either jump or push hard, or both – to create the air flow, then take advantage of the air pressure difference.

Leonardo did not know much maths. All the above conclusions he achieved just by observing and by “feeling” the physics. People started rediscovering the mechanics of a flight 300 years later after Leonardo did it. Amazing!

And, by the way, he was not the only one who wrote a mirror style from right to left. He was left-handed, and at the time all left-handed people were taught to write from right to left (not to smear the fresh ink) in a mirror style.

Many similar interesting facts I got from Isaacson. But the main lesson learned: do your thing and do not try to change the world unless changing the world is your thing.

In our current political environment and news bombarding us all day long, this thought gave me a relief and ability to concentrate on my thing – writing and blogging. I hope you are doing your thing too.