da Vinci's Wings

This drawing is based on Leonardo da Vinci's sketch of his 'glider'. This is probably one of his most debated drawings, because at the time he... more

by Walter Neal

Title

da Vinci's Wings

Artist

Walter Neal

Medium

Digital Art

Description

This drawing is based on Leonardo da Vinci's sketch of his 'glider'. This is probably one of his most debated drawings, because at the time he sketched it, it might have been possible to build. Although modern materials like aluminum and synthetic cloths were not available to him at the time, historians have recently attempted to build it using materials he would have had available and found that it could actually fly with a couple of small modifications. The main modification to his glider design being the addition of a rudder to stabilize the yaw, or left and right movement of the glider. Although it is highly unlikely that he built this machine, it does leave a few things unanswered and some historians believe that he may have built it. Leonardo's sketches and the principles he discovered while developing his glider set down some of the most basic principles of flight, many engineers and Leonardo lovers tend to agree that he is one of the founding fathers of the branch of physics which is now known as aerodynamics.

Uploaded

January 12th, 2016