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Da Vinci Bridge Built 134

Posted by michael from the better-late-than-never dept.
cluening writes: "A bridge designed about 500 years ago by Leonardo Da Vinci has finally been built. It's mighty cool that something envisioned so long ago has actually been created with relatively little trouble." See also the project's home page.
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Da Vinci Bridge Built More

Da Vinci Bridge Built

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  • Sorry, it isn't his 1500 footer, but merely a scaled down version. Does it anwser the question about whether or not his original could be built? No, not of stone at least. The stone one cannot be used for modern traffic.

    Using todays technologies and materials we could easily do it, but the egos of states and engineers would get in the way.
    • Read the article. It's a foot bridge (for walking) and is made of wood.
    • Yes, not only is it 1/3 the length and made out of a material unavailable to DaVinci, but it doesn't look to be supporting itself well.

      Notice in the picture the four T shaped supports holding up the spans outside the bows. Even with these supports the near span is visibly sagging. In DaVinci's design that area was to be filled with masonry, I hope they do something other than leave those inappropriate supports in place.

      And while I suppose the handrails are required by local building codes, they do spoil the entire effect. All those little vertical lines ruin the effect the clean span. Of course, a series of fatal accidents involving skateboarders and bicyclists falling onto the highway below would probably also spoil the bridge's reputation...

      (And no, I have no idea how to make a visually appropriate hand rail. I'm not an architect, just a critic. :-)
      • And while I suppose the handrails are required by local building codes

        Around here, any footbridge that goes over a roadway is completely enclosed. If they didn't do that, at least once every year, some kids would drop bricks or something on cars as passed under. Some people were killed on the Autobahn like this a few years ago. Brick goes through windshield at 160kph...
      • Notice in the picture the four T shaped supports holding up the spans outside the bows. Even with these supports the near span is visibly sagging. In DaVinci's design that area was to be filled with masonry, I hope they do something other than leave those inappropriate supports in place.

        If you look at the model [vebjorn-sand.com], you can see that the sag is part of the design. I'd be interested to know how this would have been done with stone, and without rebar :).

  • Safety and $$$ (Score:3, Interesting)

    by SplendidIsolatn ( 468434 ) <splendidisolatn@yah[ ]com ['oo.' in gap]> on Thursday November 01, 2001 @09:17AM (#2506501)
    I'm curious as to how the costs of this bridge would compare with a non-Da Vincian design. Aside from the pleasurable looks, does this bridge provide any other functionality such as safety in unpleasant conditions?

    That being said, if there was another added benefit (strength, cost) would it be possible to create that bridge for automobiles? If anyone who knows more about architecture than I do has an answer, I'd like to know.

    • Re:Safety and $$$ (Score:3, Insightful)

      by lohen ( 122373 )
      Personally, I quite like the idea of a highly engineered, aesthetically pleasing footbridge. It's good to get away from the car (this from a man who cycles 3.5 hours a week just to get to lectures, rehearsals etc). The beauty of such a design is in the concept, and the realisation of such a concept seems well-suited for non-motorised forms of transport. Cars would probably just get it dirty anyway ;)

    • IANAE - Dammit, Jim, I'm a lawyer, not an engineer.

      Despite that, I did get a little bit of training in engineering in College. I'd have to guess that the design probably isn't ideal, because Leonardo did not have the benefit of differential equations, modern material science, etc. Engineering was by trial and error back in the day.

      But, that bridge sure looks good, and I'd be we could build the bridge today, out of steel and concrete, across the Bosporus. That would be really cool, although the Turks would have to be willing to throw the extra money around.

      P.S.: Leonardo, your Workshop rules. Now I can upgrade my Civ III Spearsmen to Riflemen for only 60 gold a pop! Sweet!!

  • Overbudget (Score:5, Funny)

    by Ratbert42 ( 452340 ) on Thursday November 01, 2001 @09:18AM (#2506502)

    "The laminated timber version, to be built by the firm best known for engineering the innovative "Viking Ship" skating arena for the 1994 Winter Olympics in Norway, Moelven Laminated Group, is estimated to cost a modest $466,000"

    Leonardo envisioned the bridge in stone. When that proved too expensive, the Norwegians settled for a graceful wooden version for $1.36 million.

    A 200% cost overrun. Still, it's cheaper than most dot-coms furniture bill.

    • A 200% cost overrun.

      My boss would consider that normal. OTOH, the 500 year schedule slip is a tad much even by software development standards.

  • Celebrating a Contender (Score:3, Interesting)

    by JJ ( 29711 ) on Thursday November 01, 2001 @09:28AM (#2506525) Homepage Journal
    IMHO, celebrating the ideas of a contender for "World's Smartest Human, Ever" is worth whatever this bridge cost. Besides, it looks like a really cool bridge.
    • If Leo was so smart, how come he never designed a router? ;)

      -how about a hub then? Or was that covered by the invention of the wheel?

    • Right on - Around the world I've seen WAY more money wasted on designs by people who were _NOT_ contenders for "World's Smartest Human, Ever", I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder etc etc but a lot of stuff I've seen cost millions and was going to look so silly and out of date in a couple of years (if not already). I think this bridge is cool. I just wish I was lucky enought for the requirements for something I designed not to change week to week, let alone for 500 years. Bridge designers get all the breaks.

  • Nordmenn elsker bruer (Score:2, Interesting)

    by imrdkl ( 302224 )
    The Norwegians really like their bridges. And tunnels. They are masters of tunnel building. And one of the first things I noticed when driving cross-country here was the plethora of bridge designs. They seem to have tried a little of everything, its pretty cool to see.

    Hats off to the norwegians for cool engineering and no fear of new (and old) designs.

    Now, if someone could tell me please, when do they close the fjords at night?

  • Another cool old bridge (Score:5, Interesting)

    by e4 ( 102617 ) on Thursday November 01, 2001 @09:47AM (#2506574)

    The PBS show NOVA [pbs.org] did a program [pbs.org] about engineers trying to recreate the famous Rainbow Bridge shown in this this [pbs.org] 900-year-old painting.

    It is widely believed that the bridge actually existed in China centuries ago, but it's actual design was a bit of a mystery. Using the famous painting as a guide, they were able to come up with a feasable design using wood and ropes. They eventually built a full sized bridge in a Chinese village. The bridge was remarkably strong [pbs.org] for a millenium-old design.

    NOVA has to be one of the coolest shows around...

    • Hey neat! They have a bridge that looks just like that in the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco! Except that one there is a *lot* steeper. Don't think it was constructed in the same manner though. I didn't take pictures, and I don't remember the support beams underneath like in the pictures of the Chinese bridge.

  • Da Vinci bicycle (Score:5, Interesting)

    by John Harrison ( 223649 ) <johnharrison@@@gmail...com> on Thursday November 01, 2001 @09:49AM (#2506577) Homepage Journal
    For the final project of my freshman year Civ class we built a da Vinci bicycle out of wood. Acutally we built it twice since the janitors from the dorm thought the first one which had only to be assembled to be complete was junk so they threw it out. The second one was ridable and could be pedaled but was hard to turn.

    I even rode it to class a few times. Nothing attracts attention like riding your extremely loud wooden bicycle to class.

    We ended up not having a place to store for the summer it so we simply locked it to a bike rack and left it as art. It lasted as art for several months before being removed.

    • Re:Da Vinci bicycle (Score:3, Interesting)

      by morcheeba ( 260908 )
      This was the best picture [footprintpress.com] of DaVinci's bike that I could find on the net. (Also try here [virtualitalia.com]) It's only got one triangle instead of the two that the modern bike has, so it looks a bit stressful on the parts. I'd love to see more; especially the steering (or lack of steering?) mechanism.
      • Ours had no triangles and now way to turn the front wheel. I managed to steer by popping wheelies and jerking the wheel to one side repeatedly. We used 2x4s for the frame and plywood wheels with 1 inch dowels for axles. The seat was mounted to a 2x4 that came up just in front of the rear wheel. The handle bar was mounted to 2x4s that were attached at the same point as the front axel. We cheated and used a modern bike chain and chainrings for the drivetrain. Now I wish we had used a rope with wooden beads on it or something a bit more creative. There are pictures of our project, but none on the net. :(

        Overall it was pretty sturdy, but I only rode it for a few days. I didn't dare give it heavy use prior to having the project graded. Then I had to leave campus a few days after it was turned in. It was heavy and not very comfortable to ride but really the lack of steering was the only real deficiency. We couldn't see from the drawing how it would have been steerable. Perhaps with an axle in the frame mounted behind the front wheel. Maybe someday I'll build it right.

    • Actually there is conjecture that bicycle was not a DaVinci sketch, instead being the work of one of his students, or even potentially a hoax [lairweb.org.nz], though other scholars have dismissed those claims arguing that the drawing [leonet.it] is almost certainly a pupil's sketch of a Leonardo original [kausal.com]. (Note the first of these links has a great picture of both the sketch and of a re-creation of what the bike might have looked like.)

  • I know it's a cliche, but it sure is nice to see it applied to something other than the return of bell-bottoms, hip-huggers or platform shoes.

    Genius if forever.

    Fashion can make a day seem forever.

  • More Info (Score:1, Redundant)

    by squaretorus ( 459130 )
    More info HERE [vebjorn-sand.com].

    This bridge doesnt look too good in the photos to date, anyone got links to more detailed ones?

  • Maybe not the vidication everybody thinks it is (Score:4, Insightful)

    by wowbagger ( 69688 ) on Thursday November 01, 2001 @10:05AM (#2506632) Homepage Journal
    This may not be the vindication everybody thinks it is.

    First, the actual bridge is much smaller than the bridge that DaVinci envisioned. When you scale things down, they get stronger due to the cube/square law (strength varies as the square of size, mass as the cube - halving the size of an object reduces strength to a quarter, but reduces mass (and thus needed strength) to an eighth).

    Second, the actual bridge is using laminated lumber, rather than the stone DaVinci specified. Wood is a very strong substance, and will flex rather than crumble like stone.

    The project page is /.'ed, so I cannot see if they factored these into the design, and I didn't see the Nova special. Does anybody know if they took these factors into account?
    • Very true! Most of Da Vinci's inventions would and have failed due to such issues relating to materials, but that is if we are looking from a stictly engineering standpoint.

      For me DaVinci's inventions are not going to be "better" than what we invented in the last few hundred years. He did however show incredible creativity. IMHO (which isn't much when I am not talking about biology or C/C++ programming ) its not the fact that it is "better" than current, its the fact that it was thought of hundreds of years before it was possible to complete.

  • Mirror of project page (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Google cache of project home page:

    [google.com]
    http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:kyvmjWinItU :w ww.vebjorn-sand.com/thebridge.htm+&hl=en&lr=lang_e n

  • This is what they should have built over the Thames River in London rather than that awful swaying Millenium Bridge. I am still not sure if that has been reopened to the public yet. What a waste of money and sad comment on the "New Millenium" that was.

    Andrew
    • As far as I know the stupid Millennium Bridge is still closed. It's liable to end up costing twice as much as was originally spent just to fix the damn thing. Total waste of taxpayers' money.
      Engineers 1, Architects 0

  • there's a sucker born every few centuries (Score:5, Funny)

    by abde ( 136025 ) <apoonawa-blog&yahoo,com> on Thursday November 01, 2001 @10:17AM (#2506669) Homepage

    "I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you"

    -- Da Vinci, 1502 AD

    "No Thanks"

    -- Sultan Bajazet II, 1502 AD

    "Where do I sign?"

    -- Norwegian Highway Department, 2001 AD

  • Reminds me ... (Score:3, Informative)

    by Krilomir ( 29904 ) on Thursday November 01, 2001 @10:28AM (#2506711)
    ...of this really cool game [chroniclogic.com] where you build bridges. It's in full 3D with a complex physics engine. I had a lot of fun with this game yesterday :)

  • Assembly Techiques (Score:3, Funny)

    by AndroidCat ( 229562 ) on Thursday November 01, 2001 @10:37AM (#2506746) Homepage
    The arches are built in glued pine, a process used in many of the stunning venues at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. The railing is in stainless steel and teak.

    What I want to know is did they use those hex keys to assemble it, and can I get one in Ikea?

  • Leonardo's methods are the way forward (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anton Anatopopov ( 529711 ) on Thursday November 01, 2001 @10:40AM (#2506756)
    Leonardo DaVinci invented many other things apart from bridges. He was one of the first anatomists to draw pictures of the insides of human bodies. He invented the helicopter. He was truly the canonical 'renaissance man'.

    While his designs may not be right for the modern world, the way he dabbled in every form of science was amazing. If only more scientists could see beyond the tunnel-vision of their specialism to get a grasp of the 'big picture' the way Leonardo did.

    Modern scientists such as Professor Stephen Hawking are truly geniusses, but they lack the all round scientific insight to be productive. How many bridges have been built by theoretical physicists ? ;-)

    I think the problem is the education system which forces us by the 'major' system to specialise rather than follow our interests. This has to change as we move forward into the 21st century.

    • I don't think that's a fair way of looking at it. Geniuses come and go at random, but I don't think they're created by the education system or can be forced into a pigeonhole so easily. Its up to the individual to find their own direction. Take Richard Feynman [scs-intl.com], for example, a nobel prize winning theoretical physicist who helped build the atomic bomb, invented the concept of the quantum computer, figured out why the Challenger blew up, and even composed a bongo drum ballet. My old research advisor, Herb Simon [cmu.edu], was a nobel prize winner in economics and also won a Turing Award for his hand in a substantial chunk of the beginnings of Artificial Intelligence.

      On the other hand, if we used our education system to encourage everyone to do everything, I think we'd have a lot of non-genius folks who would just suck at lots of things. We're probably better off just letting the geniuses figure out that they're destined for bigger & better things.

    • Re:Leonardo's methods are the way forward (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Tenebrious1 ( 530949 ) on Thursday November 01, 2001 @11:59AM (#2507135) Homepage
      ...see beyond the tunnel-vision of their specialism to get a grasp of the 'big picture'

      The problem is, the "big picture" doesn't pay. That type of science is called "blue-sky" research, and there aren't that many companies (besides the US Gov, IBM, GE) that are willing or can afford to maintain such research groups. Unless you specialize, you don't get funding. A lot of researchers would love to be generalists, dabbling in everything and trying to come up with something new. However, unless you pick a specialty, you don't get funding from the school. You don't get research grants. You can't pay off your student loans. So you specialize.

      ...He invented the helicopter.

      No, he designed a non-working machine that sorta looks like a helicopter. He also designed a non-working device that looks like a parachute but would kill the user. I think one of the criteria for an "invention" is that it works. I don't think you can get a US Patent on a non-working device.

      ...How many bridges have been built by theoretical physicists ?

      Every Single One. The designers might not have had a nice shiny plaque on the door that said "theoretical physicist", but the Roman Aquaducts weren't designed by peasants throwing rocks around hoping they would stay together. Even the fallen tree over the stream. Some bright individual had been using deadfalls to cross streams, and thought to himself - "hey, I could cut down a tree and lay it across *myself* instead of having to hike all the way up here". He was a theoretical physicists. So was DaVinci for that matter, although he rarely put theory into practice. Theoretical and physicist are relative terms remember depending on what the general pool of knowledge was in that time period.

      ...forces us... to specialise rather than follow our interests

      Nothing forces you to specialize into something you don't like. You choose your major. You choose the topic for your thesis. You choose which research grants to apply for. You choose which to accept.

      I chose not to pursue a degree in theoretical mathematics. I choose to instead be a dirt poor novelist struggling to pay my massive school loans working as a helpdesk tech. It was my choice to leave the system. Everyone has that choice.

      Not to say the school system doesn't have problems and couldn't use a LOT of reform at the primary and secondary levels. That I don't have an answer for.

      • . Some bright individual had been using deadfalls to cross streams, and thought to himself - "hey, I could cut down a tree and lay it across *myself* instead of having to hike all the way up here". He was a theoretical physicists.

        No, he was an Engineer, and probably proud of it.
        • Ogg: Hey Ugg, have you seen Trogg lately?

          Ugg: No, ever since he put that log across the stream he's been all "holier than thou" to the rest of us.

          Ogg: Damn engineers. When will they learn to leave well enough alone? If some supernatural being we haven't gotten around to naming yet wanted us to use trees to cross streams, he would have given us something to cut down those trees.

          Ugg: Did you see what Trogg used to chop down the tree? He didn't chew it like the rest of us, he used a rock tied to a stick! I hear he's also playing with fire too. Calls it cooking. Says it will revolutionalize eating. I'm telling you Ogg, there's something wrong with that kid.

          Ogg: {shakes head}
      • He also designed a non-working device that looks like a parachute...

        Actually, according to another post [slashdot.org] in this discussion, his parachute actually worked quite well, even being made of materials and with tools of the time.

        ...but would kill the user.

        Ahh, now that might be possible. According to the article, the person who tried it cut himself free 2000 feet above the ground and switched to a modern parachute to avoid injury.

        Cheers......

    • That's more than a little unfair. As time goes on fields increase in depth requiring more time to become proficient in and not allowing those who are interested in multiple fields to spread there studies out across fields. Not to deny Leonardo his genius, but it was much, much easier for him to dabble in a wide variety of fields than it would be for someone today. It took less effort for him to become an expert in a subject, especially when it was a subject that little was known about.
    • what do you mean, steven hawking isn't productive? He's put out 3 albums [slashdot.org]. Not to shabby for a guy with his physical challenges.

  • Archimedes mirror (Score:4, Funny)

    by G Neric ( 176742 ) on Thursday November 01, 2001 @10:46AM (#2506785)
    the ancients built many marvelous things. Archimedes once built a giant mirror that would focus the sun on enemy ships and catch them afire.

    could somebody build a scaled down version of Archmedes mirror and mirror this Leonardo bridge site so I can see the pictures? Use wood if you need to.

    There is no truth to the rumor that Slashdot is the modern equivalent of the hemlock that Socrates drank.

    • I have built an archimedes mirror for you:

      http://www.indigo.com/magnify/gphmgnfy/plastic-m ag nifying-glass.html

      I coined the term magnifying glass as I built this wonderous machine, one that collects the rays of the sun and can focus them on a single point, causing fire.
  • I don't live very far from Aas/Norway, and had a chance to see the bridge a few weeks ago, and compared to da Vinci's original vision...ehhm... the bridge looks kinda small. :)
  • I made a comment [slashdot.org] yesterday about mirroring a very large file and I would like to reinterate it here with some extra stuff.

    I was able to get the pictures off the website and I have put them in a .zip file and I am sharing them on WinMX [winmx.com]. I also included this note along with the pictures.

    Original story: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/11/01/135215
    Pictures obtained from: http://www.vebjorn-sand.com/thebridge.htm
    From: AnotherBrian

    These files are probably copyrighted, I have made them avaible through other means in order to allow people who can not access the above web site due to the 'Slashdot Effect'. The files will be removed from my server 48 houres after the posting date of the artical above. Please do the same.

    Find it by searching for: [SLASHDOT When I'm at my computer I will try to give this file 1st priority. It's hard (for me) to tell if a site will be /.'ed and if the pictures won't be avaible to others. I'm wondering what the rest of you think. It would be nice for the first posters to follow my example for sites that could go down quickly. How many of you would be willing to take some time to do the same? I think I have a nice template for setting up mirrors, (suggestions welcome).

  • What impresses me... (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    ...is just the curve of the arc. While I'm no expert on bridges, this looks extraordinarily progressive -- designs like that didn't reappear until the twentieth century.


    Typical Leonardo.

  • In other news, several university students in Australia have created "the wheel" - designed before the separation of Gondwana by Urgor Groff, father of evolutionary humanity - as a graduation prank.

    One onlooker praised its amazing "rolling" motion, saying that, "It's mighty cool that something envisioned so long ago has actually been created with relatively little trouble."

    No animals or reputations were hurt during the wheel's construction.
  • this was told to me on a punt (a boat) by a Cambridge student and they lie with the best of them(most spies came out of Cambridge) anyway the story goes

    Newton designed/built a bridge over the river cam in Cambridge
    It had no bolts and held together with gravity

    Students could not work out how it worked
    One night pissed they took it apart to find out

    And they could not put it back now its held with bolts !

    bridges are fun no matter how much tech people get them wrong witness the London millennium bridge
    (it swayed so much you could not walk over it !)

    regards

    john jones
  • The New York Times had this article A Crystal Beacon Atop a 20's Curiosity [nytimes.com] about a 42-story glass and steel structure -- inspired by the Crystal Palace [victorianstation.com] built for the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London - that is going to be built atop Hearst Corporation's headquarters at 959 Eighth Avenue, between 56th and 57th Streets in New York. The existing building, completed in 1928, was originally designed as the base of a taller structure.

    Architectural critic Herbert Muschamp thinks it's a great project, something the New York skyline has been waiting for. "The possibilities for integrity are limited only by the mind's capacity to hold unity and complexity together. That is the capacity that distinguishes architecture from real estate," he says.

    (Yes, I know that reading this entire article requires a dollar for a print copy or a free registration, but in my opinion it was well worth it.)

  • Sure, it's JUST like his design... (Score:3, Funny)

    by dpbsmith ( 263124 ) on Thursday November 01, 2001 @12:12PM (#2507204) Homepage
    ...except for being seven times smaller and made out of different materials.

    And the Boeing 777 is just like his airplane design too, except for being bigger and a different shape and made out of different materials.

    • "And the Boeing 777 is just like his airplane design too, except for being bigger and a different shape and made out of different materials."

      The scale of the bridge and the material that it is made of are not the issue. The bridge built by the Norwegians follows the same structural design as his bridge.

  • A year ago to the DAY (Score:3, Insightful)

    by CyberPhunk ( 457518 ) on Thursday November 01, 2001 @12:16PM (#2507221)
    A year ago to the day I was in Istanbul, on my way to Italy. In Italy (Florence, to be exact) I had the luck to visit an exhibition of Da Vinci, complete with models. This bridge was the most impressive, both mechanically and historically, due to the fact that I crossed the Bosporus bridge over the Golden Horn just a few days back. The design was so far ahead of it's time (although at the time I thought it was just about ready for today for construction in ALUMINUM) I had wondered how many other Da Vinci projects would yet see the light of modern technology, far after Da Vinci had passed.

    His ideas are bizarre at best. Yet we already have the Helicopter. We now also have his Bridge. And some people think he was the father of photography. I have seen his paintings, his sketches, and models of his projects. They never cease to amaze me.

    Perhaps he was a genius. Perhaps he was a lunatic. Either way, I wish someday I could have the insight that he had, and be as absolutely "crazy" as he was.

  • More pix can be found here: (Score:3, Informative)

    by Big Nothing ( 229456 ) <tord.stromdal@gmail.com> on Thursday November 01, 2001 @01:31PM (#2507695)
    Dagbladet 1 [dagbladet.no]
    Dagbladet 2 [dagbladet.no]
    Aftenposten 1 [aftenposten.no] - english text with a nice pic.
    Aftenposten 2 [aftenposten.no] picture special.

    Pages also include some text for those of us who can read Nowegian.
  • Of course, after all:

    It's just a model.
  • At the project web site (http://www.vebjorn-sand.com/thebridge.htm), they list the original design length as 240 m, then as 1,1155 feet. When I went to grade school, 240m was about 790 feet. Does anybody know what the original length was?

  • Leonardo... (Score:4, Informative)

    by cr0sh ( 43134 ) on Thursday November 01, 2001 @03:22PM (#2508439) Homepage
    I see a few nay-sayers here, regarding the size and the materials used for this construction of da Vinci's bridge. It was originally meant to be of stone, and much bigger. Naysayers discuss that it is made of wood, and the inverse square law of size vs strength.

    Now, I am not an engineer - and the arguments made are valid. But I do know a bit about Da Vinci - and the one thing he wasn't is incompetent.

    If it was to be made of wood - he would have designed it that way - he knew about composite construction, from designing and building large (and not so large) torsion and bow-based siege engines for various sponsors. Many of his designs were meant to be done in wood, actually - others in stone, and still other in a combinations, which included metals and glass (optics, in that case).

    He not only designed, but built large scale machines for boring long lengths of both wood and metal (for water pipes and cannons, respectively). These are large scale constructions and projects - I have no doubt that his full scale construction, as intended in stone, could be realized as he planned.

    It is true that he saw farther than most men, and did lapse in areas that were more conjecture than real things that could work (his helicopter and ornithopter designs would likely not work - but they saw far, at the least - his parachute would have been fragile, and wouldn't have worked too well - but it has been built and tested - and it did work better than thought). But most of works are truely the "stuff of legends".

    Here we are - 500 years after this man's death - still discussing, still trying out his ideas, ideals, and plans. I think of the sketched self-portrait of his as an old-man - as well as various other images I have seen of him. A powerful, muscular individual. This was a man intent on improving his mind, his body, and the world around him. It has been said that he was strong enough to bend an iron horseshoe with his bare hands - yet gentle enough to not harm an insect. He was supposedly a vegetarian. I have also heard he may have been homosexual.

    None of this changes my image of the man - this man is a man to aspire to be like. A true individual who walked on the earth - and made it a better place through art, science, compassion, and dignity.
  • A year ago Adrian Nicholas followed the 500 year old Vinci design for a pyramid shaped parachute - built the thing, and used it [bbc.co.uk]. See the cool picture here [bbc.co.uk]
  • The small version is a beautiful work of art as a pedestrian bridge over a highway. The proposed 1500' stone version would have been far bigger than any stone bridge ever built. The record for stone arch single spans [arnes.si] is about 250'. The longest steel arch [vt.edu] is 1700'.

    It's probably possible to build such a monster, but the falsework needed to hold up all that granite during construction would in itself be a huge bridge. Steel bridges are usually self-supporting while under construction, but that doesn't work for stone, which has zilch tensile strength. It would probably take more work building the temporary structures to hold up all that stone than to build a bridge som other way.

  • Architect Santiago Calatrava designed some nice bridges too. See here [calatrava.com] for some samples or here [mam.org] for an interview or here [cgschmidt.com] for some pictures of one of his latest projects.
  • Those were the words Leonardo scribbled throughout his notebooks. A thinker who realized how hopelessly ahead of his time he was. Yes, Leonardo, something was done!

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