Alright, alright, let’s talk about this fella, Leonardo da Vinci. Folks say he was a big deal, painted some fancy pictures and all that. But did you know he was also lookin’ up at the stars? Yeah, that’s right, astronomy! Don’t get me wrong, I don’t know nothin’ about that fancy word, but I heard he was thinkin’ about the moon and the sun and all that stuff.
Now, they tell me this Leonardo fella, he wasn’t just sittin’ around paintin’ pretty pictures all day. He was lookin’ at rivers, see? How they twist and turn, not just straight lines. He figured there was a reason for it, somethin’ pushin’ and pullin’ the water. Makes sense, right? Water, it goes where it wants to go, just like my chickens when I let ’em out in the mornin’.
- He was a thinker, that Leonardo.
- Always askin’ “why” and “how,” like a little kid.
- But his “why” and “how” were about the whole wide world, not just why the rooster crows at dawn.
And then there’s this light business. Seems like he was real obsessed with light. They say he painted a picture, a big one, called “The Last Supper.” Full of light and shadows, they say. I ain’t never seen it myself, but I hear it’s somethin’ special. He figured out how light works, how it bounces and bends, makes things look different. Like how the mornin’ sun makes the dew on the grass sparkle. Pretty, ain’t it? But he was thinkin’ deeper than that, thinkin’ about how light comes from the sun, how it hits the earth, how it makes the moon shine.
They say he wrote in some books, called ’em “Codex” somethin’ or other. Big ol’ books filled with his scribbles and drawings. In one of them, he was goin’ on about light and shadows again, but this time it wasn’t just about paintin’. He was thinkin’ about the Earth and the whole shebang, the cosmos, they call it. Big word, huh? Means everything out there, the stars and all. He was tryin’ to figure out how the Earth gets its light, how the shadows move, how it all fits together. Reminds me of tryin’ to figure out how to fit all the jars in my pantry, only a whole lot bigger.
Now, from what I hear, this Leonardo guy, he lived in a place called Milan. And while he was there, he kept lookin’ up at the sky, thinkin’ about the light. But it wasn’t easy for him. The more he looked, the more complicated it got. He had some ideas, but then he’d change his mind, say “nope, that ain’t right.” He was always questionin’ things, never satisfied. Like my grandson, always askin’ “Grandma, why is the sky blue?” And I gotta tell him somethin’, even if I ain’t always sure myself.
And this light stuff, it wasn’t just about makin’ pretty pictures. It was tied to the stars, see? He was tryin’ to understand how the light from the stars got to us, how we see ’em. He wasn’t the first one to think about this stuff, mind you. There were others before him, smart fellas too, I guess. But Leonardo, he took it further, asked different questions, looked at things in a new way. He was like a farmer plowin’ a new field, turnin’ over the soil, seein’ what’s underneath.
So, what’s the big deal about Leonardo da Vinci and astronomy? Well, he wasn’t just lookin’ at the stars and makin’ pretty pictures. He was tryin’ to figure out how the whole dang universe works. He was usin’ his eyes, his brain, everything he had to understand the light, the shadows, the Earth, the cosmos. And even though I don’t understand half of it, I can appreciate a fella who ain’t afraid to ask questions and look for answers. He was a curious one, that Leonardo, just like my cat when she sees a mouse.
And that, as far as I can tell, is what this Leonardo da Vinci fella was all about when it came to the stars and the sky. A whole lotta thinkin’ and lookin’ and tryin’ to make sense of it all. More complicated than bakin’ a good apple pie, that’s for sure.
Tags: [Leonardo Da Vinci, astronomy, light, optics, The Last Supper, Codex Leicester, cosmos, Milan, scientific observation, Renaissance]
