Emulating Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519): the convergence of science and art in biomedical research and practice

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To develop a complete mind: Study the science of art; Study the art of science. Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else. Leonardo da Vinci

Renaissance pertains to great revivals of learning, art and science in the 14th–16th century Europe, launching the modern times. The Renaissance mindset emphasized reason and scientific examination in Nature’s study. Raphael’s The School of Athens,^1,2 1509–11 also known as Visualization of Knowledge, communicates perfectly how Ancient Greece tutored the Italian Renaissance. Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) personally owned several books by/on Aristotle.³ Today, 500 years after dying in Francis I’s arms (Figure 1), Leonardo is celebrated as arguably the most diversely talented polymath, ever; he became a Renaissance icon through unquenchable curiosity and inventive imagination.⁴

Leonardo is plausibly history’s most all-embracing genius. Otherwise how could he excel-in and influence such wide-ranging disciplines, encompassing: several biomedical fields, including anatomy, botany, pathology, haemodynamics, and physiology; painting, music, sculpting, and architecture; general science, chemistry, fluid dynamics, geology, astronomy, cartography, mathematics, engineering, and invention; writing, including quotes on life, philosophy, and history. He contrived first drawings preordaining flying-machines, parachute, helicopter, submarine, and bicycle. In Art, his legacy includes (Figure 1): the Mona Lisa, exhibiting a sfumato quality shrouding her emotions; The Last Supper, most reproduced religious painting; and the Vitruvian Man, cultural icon epitomizing art-and-science blending, in one page of Leonardo’s Notebooks that overflowed with human-body information.