Leonardo Da Vinci - Dreams to Reality

Leonardo da Vinci was a man who defined his era as much as his era defined him. Born amidst the bustle of the Renaissance era, he drew inspiration from the resurgence of discovery and creativity in the great minds around him, while concomitantly inspiring many others – in his lifetime and beyond – towards greatness.

            Leonardo da Vinci embodied the thirst for knowledge and self-improvement that lays at the foundation of every progressive society. From a precocious young age, Leonardo displayed an abundant curiousity in the workings of the world – in his leisure time, he would explore his village of Vinci, recording his observations in a notebook. Nothing was lost under his observant and critical eye, and these observations helped Leonardo formulate an understanding of the enigmatic world around him. In fact, the empirical approach he adopted towards science is what, centuries later, scientists decades older than him call the ‘scientific method’.

            Leonardo da Vinci is probably best known for painting the Mona Lisa; but his ‘contributions’ to mankind stretches from paintings of noblewomen smiling demurely to soldiers screaming in agony. Leonardo da Vinci pioneered the concept of the modern tank, albeit without large rocket launchers or state-of-the-art armour-plating. He envisioned, in his own words, a ‘covered chariot which is safe and cannot be assaulted’. Simply put, this ‘covered chariot’ was a circular structure protected on all sides by metal plates. Eight soldiers would sit inside this encased behemoth, pedaling furiously to turn its wheels while firing shots out of small slits in the walls.

            The true impact of Leonardo’s revolutionary idea of a mobile fortress was only felt four centuries later, when Winston Churchill commissioned the development of the modern tank during World War I. The tank soon became a crucial weapon in the British army. Its emergence on the battlefield struck fear into the hearts of Germans, Britain’s primary wartime energy, while boosting the morale of British soldiers. British tanks blasted through enemy lines so quickly that British infantry units were sometimes unable to keep up. Today, tanks have become an indispensable part of any modern army – a testament to the impact of Leonardo’s idea.

            Ultimately, Leonardo’s life was as brilliant and inspired as it was ironic and tragic. Despite not having access to the many modern conveniences that purport to make 21^st century living more efficient, Leonardo’s accomplishments in the fields of art, engineering, and research are still astoundingly remarkable, even to the brightest minds of our time. Despite living in an era of pestilence, privation, and protests, much of Leonardo da Vinci’s art depict an idyllic and heavenly world far removed from the suffering of the real world. Despite being a man of such repute and talent, Leonardo never received a proper burial, and to this date, his actual bones have never been identified. Leonardo da Vinci’s physical imprint on our world may have been lost in the folds of time, but his ideas and boundless human spirit ring eternal, continuing to inspire us to this date.