Leonardo da Vinci, Pathfinder of Science

by Henry S. Gillette

The title of the proposed book was to be Light and Shade. It would include the subject of optics or the mechanism of the eye, the problems of reflection and refraction and it would lead him eventually to a re-examination of his studies of the sun and moon.

In Leonardo’s day, and even for a long while afterwards, the popular belief of vision was one that had originally been put forth by the Platonic school and expanded by Euclid and Ptolemy. This belief was that the eye sent forth rays that brought back the image to the soul. Leonardo, in his younger days, had believed in the same theory. Not content with what had been written on the subject, however, he began to experiment for himself.

These experiments led him to an examination of the eye itself. He noted the various parts of the eye—the optic foramen or opening, the pigment layer, and the iris. These were already known by the Arabs. Leonardo discovered, however, the crystalline area of the eye. He explained binocular vision, or three-dimensional images, by correctly noting the positions of the two eyes in the head. He described the variations in the diameter of the pupil according to the surrounding light. Further experiments with light brought him to the conclusion that light and images are received by the eye. He took a piece of paper, for example, and pierced it with a small hole. With this he looked at the source of light. He noted the cone shape of the rays funneling into the tiny hole and then when the paper was held next to a white wall he noted that the rays spread out again. He established that light travels in straight lines. He constructed the first “camera obscura”—a box with a small hole in it. Inside the box an object was placed near the hole and behind that a lighted candle. When the box was closed the image of the object was cast on the wall. Leonardo was already acquainted with lenses, and he placed a magnifying lens over the hole to create an enlarged image.

Leonardo’s “camera obscura” which he used for projecting an image of an object on a wall or screen.

He also demonstrated various laws relative to optical illusion, such as irradiation—when a metal rod is made red-hot at one end, that end seems thicker than the other. A brightly lit object seems larger than one exactly like it that is dimly lit; a dark object placed against a light background seems smaller than it is; a light object seems larger than its real size when placed against a dark background; and the illusion of a light swung in a circle appears as a complete circle of light.

Many years before Newton, Leonardo described the experiment of breaking up a ray of white light into the solar spectrum. Also he compared two sources of light and measured their intensity by the depth of their shadows accompanied by a drawing that was the forerunner of Rumford’s photometer three centuries later! He stated the law of reflection—that is, that the angle of reflection is always equal to the angle of incidence.

About this time Leonardo left the studio of Ambrogio de Predis and moved into the Sforza Castle. Ludovico had put at his disposal a studio in the Corte Vecchia and the use of a room in one of the towers—which Leonardo always kept locked. To his growing list of work, Leonardo now had to add the preparations for the delayed wedding reception of Ludovico’s nephew, Gian Galeazzo Sforza.

On a cold winter evening of January 1490 the guests assembled again. Silks, satins and gold brocade, diamonds, rubies and pearls glittered in the brilliant lights. Princes of the Church mingled with ambassadors of foreign lands. Music and perfume filled the air and as the party quieted down the entertainment began. There were dances in gay costumes. Poetry was recited that flattered the bride and groom. There were allegorical processions. The jokes and antics of the court jester made the audience laugh.

Then, at midnight, the curtain that hung from wall to wall at the end of the ballroom was raised. Applause and cries of delight greeted the spectacle. The rising curtain revealed a room in which there was a hemisphere surrounded by the signs of the zodiac and the planets. While the planets in their niches flickered with concealed lights and the signs of the zodiac glowed, lines were spoken in honor of the house of Sforza to the accompaniment of a choir. The ancient gods swept down from the heavens, and the Virtues and Graces moved across the scene with nymphs waving lanterns. The music drowned out the sound of the mechanism. This was the kind of mechanics that Ludovico could understand and appreciate.