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The Da Vinci Notes

Da Vinci Notes 16: The Great Bird: Wings, the Screw and the Tent

In Milan I drew wings for a man to beat, a screw of linen to climb the air and a tent to fall under. In Florence I learned why his arms could never drive them.

Leonardo's ornithopters, the aerial screw of Manuscript B and the pyramid parachute, why human muscle was too weak, and how the 2000 parachute test went.

Leonardo da Vinci November 8, 2026 27 min

#Leonardo da Vinci #Da Vinci Notes #Flight #Flying machines #Parachute #Human-powered flight #History of science

The Da Vinci Notes

Da Vinci Notes 15: The Flight of Birds

A bird is an instrument working by mathematical law. On the hill above Florence in 1505 I watched the kite balance its weight against the air and asked whether a man could learn it.

Leonardo's 1505 Codex on the Flight of Birds: the kite, its centre of gravity and centre of resistance, gliding, the cradle memory and the great bird prophecy.

Leonardo da Vinci November 8, 2026 30 min

#Leonardo da Vinci #Da Vinci Notes #Flight #Birds #Aerodynamics #Codex on the Flight of Birds #History of science