Leonardo da VInci

For my HERO project, I chose to represent Leonardo da Vinci. He has been someone that my father told me about since the time I was a little boy. His being Italian and having the first name Leonardo made me even more fascinated with him because we share those two things in common. This interest and shared characteristics sparked my interest in him, and allowed me to be exposed to his technological achievements.

When I was younger, I can't remember exactly, my father and I went to his house in the Vinci - Tuscany area and explored the Leonardo da Vinci museum called The Museo Ideale Leonardo da Vinci. The things that he accomplished were mind blowing.  He did things that no one else had even thought of at the time, and he did so without formal education or any help. He was a painter, architect, mathematician, city planner, and biologist, while also having some talent in music and athletics.

Leonardo was born April 15, 1452 in Anchiano near Vinci and died May 2, 1519 near Florence, Italy. The name Leonardo da Vinci literally means Leonardo of Vinci. Some of his most notable paintings of the Renaissance era are the Last Supper and Mona Lisa. At the time, new ideas and obscure ideas were usually rejected and people viewed you as crazy for coming up with such ideas. However, there was something different with Leonardo. He based all of his studies off the idea of saper vedere, or knowing how to study. He believed that our ability to see was our greatest sense because it showed us things correctly and with 100% certainty. He applied this theory to all of his paintings and ideas. Not only did he have a unique theme for his studies, but these studies were hundreds of years ahead of their time.

In his childhood, Leonardo primarily lived with his dad, where he did not take school seriously and did not receive a good education until his 30s. When he was about 15 however, he apprenticed under Andrea del Verrocchio. Here, he received advanced teachings on painting, sculpting and mechanical arts. In 1472, he was allowed into the painters' guild of Florence. In some of the notebooks that I saw at his house, there were advanced sketches of pumps, military weapons, and other items that no one else had even thought of. This highlighted his desire to acquire knowledge and be the best in his field, a characteristic that I admire.

In an evermore-evolving world, Leonardo used his genius to adapt to situations and create things that solved his problems. His pursuit of knowledge allowed him to think and adapt to his surroundings far faster than others of his time. The things that he sketched in his notebooks were truly remarkable, and his writing, which went from right to left, showed how he used his ingenuity to avoid smudging his ink on the paper. Overall, Leonardo is a HERO because he forged his own path by using his brain to create masterpieces that helped him adapt to his surroundings and survive.

The issue that I wanted to focus on was technology. Technology is created in order to adapt to your surroundings and continue surviving. Many times, those who create new technological innovations come from less fortunate backgrounds because they use this as a way to help improve their situation. Leonardo lived with only his father and did not receive very good education, so he used his creativity to come up with new technologies that made the whole world know his name.