1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:02,280 Speaker 1: All right, you think of Leonardo da Vinci and you 2 00:00:02,520 --> 00:00:08,360 Speaker 1: immediately pictured the Mona Lisa, or do you picture a helicopter? Yeah, 3 00:00:08,400 --> 00:00:11,280 Speaker 1: there's a reason da Vinci was Steve Job's hero. I'm 4 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:16,120 Speaker 1: Patty Steele, magnificent artist, genius concept guy. Next on the backstory, 5 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:22,919 Speaker 1: We're back with the backstory. Do you know who Apple 6 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:26,960 Speaker 1: founder Steve Job's all time hero was? It was Leonardo 7 00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:30,200 Speaker 1: da Vinci. Now think about it. Both of them were 8 00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:33,519 Speaker 1: fascinated with both the arts and science, sort of like 9 00:00:33,640 --> 00:00:37,120 Speaker 1: Ben Franklin, even Albert Einstein. It's all about design. They 10 00:00:37,159 --> 00:00:41,440 Speaker 1: loved beauty so much they became obsessed with understanding it 11 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:44,800 Speaker 1: and how it worked. Da Vinci was, of course one 12 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:47,720 Speaker 1: of the great masters, with paintings like The Last Supper 13 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:50,360 Speaker 1: and really the most famous painting in the world, the 14 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:53,040 Speaker 1: Mona Lisa. Have you ever waited online to see that? 15 00:00:53,159 --> 00:00:55,600 Speaker 1: It'sy bitsy work of art. It's only two and a 16 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:58,720 Speaker 1: half feet tall nineteen inches wide, but who doesn't at 17 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:01,400 Speaker 1: least attempt to get a peak if they managed to 18 00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:04,600 Speaker 1: get to Paris anyway. Da Vinci was born in fourteen 19 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:08,240 Speaker 1: fifty two, but he was centuries ahead of his time. 20 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:12,920 Speaker 1: I mean this guy created the first prototypes of helicopters, 21 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:18,959 Speaker 1: a self propelled car, scuba gear, robots, machine guns, and parachutes, 22 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:21,600 Speaker 1: and there's a lot more, and the parachutes before there 23 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:24,720 Speaker 1: was anything to jump from. But you know how really 24 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:29,520 Speaker 1: talented people are also sometimes a little wacky. That was Leonardo. 25 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:33,600 Speaker 1: He had a really interesting childhood, born to a very poor, 26 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:36,840 Speaker 1: very young mother. He lived with her until he was 27 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:40,839 Speaker 1: about five years old. Then his wealthy dad took over 28 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:44,399 Speaker 1: and moved him to his home. There he was exposed 29 00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:48,280 Speaker 1: to books and especially to his father's art collection. He 30 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:52,640 Speaker 1: explored both and was crazy curious about everything he studied. 31 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:59,120 Speaker 1: Fortunately for him, his dad appreciated his individuality. Now, imagine 32 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:01,320 Speaker 1: what it would be like living in Italy in the 33 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:06,440 Speaker 1: fourteen hundreds and you're illegitimate, you're gay, you're a vegetarian, 34 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:10,640 Speaker 1: And historians agree he was likely ADHD since he was 35 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:14,400 Speaker 1: really easily distracted. Now, on top of that, he was 36 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:17,160 Speaker 1: left handed. Doesn't seem like a big deal, right, Well, 37 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:19,519 Speaker 1: back then it was seen as the mark of the devil. 38 00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:23,280 Speaker 1: In fact, the very word sinister is based on the 39 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:27,600 Speaker 1: Latin word for left But Leonardo was also really a 40 00:02:27,639 --> 00:02:31,560 Speaker 1: gorgeous guy and He had this big, warm personality as 41 00:02:31,639 --> 00:02:35,920 Speaker 1: well as amazing talent. He loved super stylish clothing. He 42 00:02:35,960 --> 00:02:39,000 Speaker 1: loved birds and other animals. In fact, he would even 43 00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:42,520 Speaker 1: buy caged birds just to immediately set them free. He 44 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:46,080 Speaker 1: was definitely a romantic. By the age of fourteen, he 45 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:49,160 Speaker 1: had been sent to Florence to be an apprentice at 46 00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:52,639 Speaker 1: a big time artists workshop, and his career really kind 47 00:02:52,639 --> 00:02:55,360 Speaker 1: of took off from there. Legend has it the artist 48 00:02:55,440 --> 00:02:58,320 Speaker 1: he worked for was so shocked by Da Vinci's talent 49 00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:02,200 Speaker 1: he stopped painting himself because he felt he could never 50 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:05,760 Speaker 1: measure up to this kid. In fact, one of Leonardo's paintings, 51 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:10,680 Speaker 1: Salvatorre Monday, sold in twenty seventeen for over four hundred 52 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:13,760 Speaker 1: and fifty million dollars. That's the most ever paid for 53 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:16,640 Speaker 1: any painting, and they didn't expect to go for anywhere 54 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:20,560 Speaker 1: close to that. So Leonardo's artwork kind of speaks for itself, 55 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:24,360 Speaker 1: I guess. But what really thrilled him was mechanics, how 56 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:28,040 Speaker 1: stuff worked. He could not stop dreaming about what was possible. 57 00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 1: Even though he was a really gentle soul, He made 58 00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:35,480 Speaker 1: a bundle working for aristocrats and royals like the Medici family, 59 00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:39,560 Speaker 1: designing all kinds of devices for military use, including an 60 00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 1: armored fighting vehicle that was an awful lot like today's tanks. 61 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:46,720 Speaker 1: He also designed weapons, including that machine gun I mentioned 62 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:50,320 Speaker 1: earlier that was able to rain just a continuous barrage 63 00:03:50,360 --> 00:03:54,320 Speaker 1: of firepower. And get this, he also designed a robot 64 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:58,360 Speaker 1: night who knew about robots back then. In addition, he 65 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:01,920 Speaker 1: figured out how to harness concentrated solar power, and he 66 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:05,600 Speaker 1: designed an early adding machine. And on top of all that, 67 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:09,600 Speaker 1: he was fascinated by anatomy. His famous Vitruvian man drawing 68 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:14,480 Speaker 1: is a perfect example of that interest. During his lifetime, hospitals, 69 00:04:14,520 --> 00:04:17,159 Speaker 1: such as they were in those days, allowed him to 70 00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:21,160 Speaker 1: dissect over thirty human bodies, and he did detailed drawings 71 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:24,800 Speaker 1: of human and animal anatomy that were used for centuries. 72 00:04:25,279 --> 00:04:28,960 Speaker 1: His drawings detailed how different organs work in our bodies 73 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:33,239 Speaker 1: and even how the eye processes light. Da Vinci died 74 00:04:33,279 --> 00:04:37,159 Speaker 1: in fifteen nineteen while in France working for King Francis, 75 00:04:37,200 --> 00:04:40,400 Speaker 1: the First who had become a really close friend. He 76 00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:44,520 Speaker 1: was sixty seven years old. What day he leave behind, well, 77 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:47,919 Speaker 1: this is wild. He left over seven thousand pages of 78 00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:51,800 Speaker 1: notes and sketches in big journal type books, but they're 79 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:57,039 Speaker 1: almost impossible to decipher. Problem is that wacky Leonardo would 80 00:04:57,040 --> 00:05:01,000 Speaker 1: write in what's called mirror script, with every thing in reverse. 81 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:04,880 Speaker 1: It actually wasn't to confuse potential thieves who might try 82 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:07,480 Speaker 1: to steal his ideas, but he mostly did it because 83 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:10,240 Speaker 1: it was easier for him, as a left handed guy, 84 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:13,680 Speaker 1: to write backwards, so he could see what he'd written, 85 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:16,360 Speaker 1: and so as not to smear the ink on the page. 86 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:20,320 Speaker 1: He'd fill these journals with all sorts of scribbles, a 87 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:23,920 Speaker 1: lot of which only he could understand. The world knows 88 00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:27,000 Speaker 1: him as one of the greatest artists in history, but 89 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:30,360 Speaker 1: it was his genius for helping us understand how things 90 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:44,120 Speaker 1: work that made Leonardo da Vinci the original renaissance man. 91 00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:50,279 Speaker 1: I'm Patty Steele. The Backstory is a production of iHeartMedia 92 00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:54,040 Speaker 1: and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our 93 00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:57,960 Speaker 1: executive producer is Steve Goldstein of Amplify Media. We're out 94 00:05:57,960 --> 00:06:01,120 Speaker 1: with new episodes twice a week. Thanks for listening to 95 00:06:01,160 --> 00:06:04,159 Speaker 1: the back Story. The pieces of history you didn't know 96 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:05,120 Speaker 1: you needed to know.