Leonardo da Vinci (15.04.1452-2.10.1519) was an Italian painter, scientist and inventor.
His scientific work concerned mathematics, mechanics, physics, astronomy, geology, botany, and the anatomy and physiology of humans and animals. He designed machines, which enabled him to penetrate more deeply into the nature of the laws of mechanics. He grasped the nature of inertia and understood that action is equal to reaction and directed against it. He studied free fall and the motion of a body thrown horizontally, and impact; he determined the centres of gravity of various bodies, in particular of the semicircle and the tetrahedron; he studied friction (he determined the coefficients of rolling and sliding friction); and he invented the conical ball bearing. He put forward the idea that perpetual motion is impossible (1475). He came close to discovering the law of communicating vessels. He studied waves on water, the superposition of waves and resonance; he observed the rise of liquids in narrow tubes (capillarity); he studied the effect of the medium on the colour of bodies; he attempted to determine the intensity of light as a function of distance, and so on. He is also known as the designer of various flying machines, looms, printing and woodworking machines, instruments for grinding glass, excavating machines and others. He discovered the existence of the resistance of the medium and of lift. His manuscripts contain drawings of a parachute and a helicopter. He is the author of a number of hydraulic-engineering projects and of designs for metallurgical furnaces. He studied the strength of materials. Leonardo da Vinci's research was in many ways ahead of its time.