Leonardo da Vinci

How they reason

Thinking

I thought I was learning to live

Aphorism

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I wrote that the Sun does not move

Aphorism

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Principle

Painting is a science of anatomy, light and landscape

I gathered my notes on anatomy, light and landscape as material for a series of treatises, so that painting could be taught as a science built on the study of nature.

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Principle

Describe a thing exactly before you explain it

My science works by observation: I try to understand a phenomenon by describing and depicting it in the utmost detail, rather than leading with experiments or theory.

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Principle

I stated the laws of sliding friction in 1493

Studying perpetual motion, I concluded it was impossible and in 1493 wrote down laws of sliding friction in my notebooks, two centuries before Guillaume Amontons rediscovered them in 1699.

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Insight timeline

How the thinking unfolded over time.

How they reason

Thinking

I thought I was learning to live

Aphorism

Open card

I wrote that the Sun does not move

Aphorism

Open card

Principle

Painting is a science of anatomy, light and landscape

I gathered my notes on anatomy, light and landscape as material for a series of treatises, so that painting could be taught as a science built on the study of nature.

Open card

Principle

Describe a thing exactly before you explain it

My science works by observation: I try to understand a phenomenon by describing and depicting it in the utmost detail, rather than leading with experiments or theory.

Open card

Principle

I stated the laws of sliding friction in 1493

Studying perpetual motion, I concluded it was impossible and in 1493 wrote down laws of sliding friction in my notebooks, two centuries before Guillaume Amontons rediscovered them in 1699.

Open card

Go deeper

Insight timeline

How the thinking unfolded over time.