Leonardo da Vinci: far ahead of his time RENAISSANCE MAN

Houston Museum of Natural Science spotlights his inventions

The air screw designed by da Vinci was a precursor to the helicopter. The air screw designed by da Vinci was a precursor to the helicopter. Photo: James Nielsen, Chronicle Photo: James Nielsen, Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Leonardo da Vinci: far ahead of his time 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

In 1505, around the time Leonardo da Vinci was painting the Mona Lisa, he was also sketching designs for a helicopter. How's that for a Renaissance man?

The helicopter's design challenge was that the entire "air screw," as he called the flying machine, spun, not just the propeller.

He died in 1519 without resolving the engineering dilemma, which would take another four centuries to solve.

Da Vinci, best known for his masterpiece oil paintings Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, sketched a slew of other inventions, some of which were implemented. Others likely would have been, if only Renaissance technology could have kept pace with his high-flying ideas.

In the Houston Museum of Natural Science exhibition, Leonardo da Vinci: Man, Inventor, Genius, 50 models of his drawings, some of which are interactive, have been assembled, including full-size reproductions of a hang glider, a parachute and a 7-foot-long catapult. The wooden models were built by craftsmen in Florence, Italy, who faithfully adhered to da Vinci's vividly detailed drawings.

"People of his time would be awed, but it was almost like science fiction, like warp drive on Star Trek," said David Temple, associate curator of paleontology.

"He was thinking of these things, and then the people who would have to carry it out would realize they couldn't do it. For one thing, they didn't have the materials."

Da Vinci was the sort of genius who leaped from one idea to another. As Temple colorfully describes him, "the Renaissance ADD guy."

"His notebooks were never really finished. On one page he might have his grocery list and the next page observations about flying or a machine and on the next page a drawing," Temple said.

One of his apprentices tried to consolidate everything for publication, but many of the pages were mixed up or lost. Another barrier to publication was that since da Vinci didn't learn Latin until he was 40, he wrote in Italian, which was considered a nonscholarly language.

"Leonardo da Vinci is probably the most diversely intelligent person to have ever lived," Temple said. "He's an interesting character. It's ironic that the world remembers him as a tremendous artist. He had only 13 paintings finished that are known to be his."

Of course, what he did finish in art and science was spectacular. "He excelled far beyond the scientific horizons of his time by inventing technologically advanced equipment such as the underwater breathing device that is used by scuba divers today, as well as by improving upon previous designs of a tank for soldiers to maneuver safely through war zones," Temple said.

Da Vinci was born in 1452 in Vinci, Italy, an illegitimate son of his notary father and peasant mother, who, according to the conventions of the time, couldn't use his father's last name, attend a university or aspire to a traditional, respectable career. Da Vinci is not a true last name. It means "from Vinci," his place of birth.

He could have practiced a trade, becoming a leather worker or ironmonger. But his father, after seeing his drawings, apprenticed him to Andrea del Verrocchio, an acclaimed artist.

"You didn't have to be respectable to be an artist," Temple said.

In the artists' workshop, he was taught to make practical things and he studied anatomy. "He became interested in science, in what makes people tick," Temple said. "He knew more about anatomy than any doctor at the time. He understood blood circulation and heart valves. Leonardo had a couple years of schooling, and he had a deep desire to learn and he taught himself the rest. He was proud of the fact that he was self-taught."

He had powerful patrons. By 1482, da Vinci was in the service of the Duke of Milan, not only because of his artistic talents, but also because of his engineering prowess. He designed weaponry, buildings and machinery, and produced studies on nature, mechanics, anatomy, architecture and more.

Curiously, most of da Vinci's inventions had flaws written into the plans.

"In many of his inventions, he would draw it, but then he would purposely either omit a detail or draw it in wrong," Temple said. "If you build the tank to spec, it won't work, but if you reverse a couple of the parts, it does work."

Such glitches were likely intentional, Temple said. Da Vinci developed codes and wrote backward, possibly to avoid having his ideas copied or stolen.

Or he may have been trying to ensure some of his inventions did not materialize.

"Some scholars say he had come to regret creating war engines to be used for killing people," Temple said. "Gunpowder was beginning to be used, and he invented the first machine gun. He did a lot of military commissions. Art was valued, but there's always been more money in arms and weapons."