Did you know that the parachute & diving suit were Leonardo Da Vinci's creations?

Da Vinci may be well known for his art, but the artist was a real renaissance man and also held the titles of inventor and scientist during his 67-year long life. Take a look at some of Da Vinci’s inventions on the 500th anniversary of his passing.

Parachute
Da Vinci was especially fascinated with the idea of flight. He came up with the idea for the world’s first-ever parachute; a wooden pyramid structure draped with a piece of cloth that would be able to slow down a person’s terminal velocity as they fell to earth. The final outcome was a device that Da Vinci said allowed a man to ‘throw himself down from any great height without suffering any injury.’

Anemometer
This is an instrument for measuring the speed of wind. He hoped that the device would give to-be pilots the right information about the direction of wind before they attempted flight. Da Vinci made the following comments alongside sketches for his updated anemometer saying, “For measuring distance traversed per hour with the force of the wind. Here a clock for showing time is required.”

Diving suit
As much as he was interested in taking to the skies, Da Vinci was also keen to discover what was below. Da Vinci, who was also employed by the military to find ways of increasing its chances in warfare, created a diving suit that would allow men t dive deep and be able to partake in underwater sabotage by cutting holes in the bottom of the enemy’s hull. The design, complete with breathing hose and glass goggles, didn’t make it past the planning stage.

Robotic knight
This one almost seems like something out of a sci-fi novel and many were happy that it didn’t see the light of day given it could have been frightening at the time of its initial blueprints. In the 15th century, Da Vinci created the first humanoid robot that was fitted with gears and pulleys fitted on a complex pulley and cable system. In 2002, roboticist Mark Rosheim built a prototype of the robotic knight which was able to walk and wave.

Self-Propelled Cart
Before the idea of motorised vehicles was even a glimmer of a thought, Da Vinci designed a cart that was capable of moving without being pushed. Many consider Da Vinci self-propelled cart invention to be the world’s first robot. Historians later deduced that Da Vinci specifically designed the cart for theatrical use. In 2006, Italy’s Institute and Museum of the History of Science in Florence built a working model based on Da Vinci’s design and the cart actually worked!