This year marks 500 years since the death of Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519). He is now best known as a painter, but his interests included architecture, astronomy, botany, cartography, geology, literature, maths and music. Leonardo was unusual for his time because he took an empirical approach, using direct experience and observation to gain an understanding of the world around him.
As well as earning a living as an artist, Leonardo was employed as an engineer. His journals and notebooks contain details of many inventions, with designs for bridges, musical instruments, weapons and machines, including a self-propelling vehicle (Figure 1) and a bicycle. Leonardo was particularly interested in the idea of flying machines and — over 400 years before the first successful powered flight — drew several designs for airborne vehicles (Figure 2).
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