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Correspondence
Nature 426, 15 (6 November 2003) | doi:10.1038/426015a
Leonardo knew the fluid boundaries of science
Stefano E. Grillo1
- Institute of Materials Science and Process Engineering (CNRS), Tecnosud, Université de Perpignan, 66100 Perpignan, France
The Science in Culture article "Leonardo lifts off" (Nature 421, 792; 2003) provided a critique of the myth that Leonardo da Vinci was "a man ahead of his time", by suggesting that his plans for a successful flying machine design depended more on luck than his knowledge of fluid dynamics. In particular, it was stated that Leonardo "did not pay attention to the fact that air, unlike water, is compressible, and had not considered such a possibility".
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