IUBio

Time Magazine: Man of the Millennium

Beast of Bourbon locknar at earthlink.net
Mon Sep 28 03:44:58 EST 1998


On 27 Sep 1998 10:33:26 GMT, joecosby at mixqam.seatac.net (Joe Cosby) wrote:

>> Gold: da Vinci
>> 
>Maybe my history is weak, I don't really know all that
>much about the life of da Vinci.
>
>But did he really have any -effect- on the world around
>him?
>
>He has always seemed to be a fascinating genius, and to
>embody the knowledge of his time, but did anything he
>did ever lead to other things in turn?
>
>He strikes me as a synthecist;  making fascinating
>-applications- of knowledge as it existed in his time,
>but he doesn't seem to have really advanced anything
>-novel-, at least not in any influential way.

Then you're limiting the scope of the "award" to one's influence on
technological advancement.  I'm being a bit more free in my considerations.

Leonardo da Vinci is the supreme example of the creative potential of a human
being.  His was "the most compulsive curiosity ever recorded," in the words of
Kenneth MacLeish.

He displayed mastery, or did extensive studies, of many fields and trades:
Aeronautics
Anatomy
Architecture
Astronomy
Botany
Cartography
Drawing
Geology
Geometry
Hydraulics
Mathematics
Mechanics
Metal Casting
Military Engineering
Murals
Optics
Painting
Sculpture
Zoology




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