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Leonardo da Vinci
1452–1519
Italian artist and engineer who filled notebooks with dissections, water studies and flying-machine designs.
What they got right
He trusted what he could observe and test over what authorities said. If a book said one thing and a body on the dissecting table showed another, the body won.
Skill it shows
Evidence and sources
Practise this skillWisdom is the daughter of experience.
Experience never errs; it is only your judgments that err by promising themselves effects such as are not caused by your experiments.
Worth knowing
He published almost nothing, so his discoveries had little influence for centuries. Historians see him as a brilliant observer rather than a systematic scientist. Many 'Leonardo quotes' online are invented.
Try it yourself
Pick one thing you 'know' about how something works (say, why bread rises). How would you check it with your own eyes instead of trusting a website?