Da Vinci and Sound Waves
1490
As a scientist, da Vinci was interested in how sound moves through different materials. He is often credited with discovering that sound travels in waves, allowing Galileo to later on discover more properties of sound waves. Da Vinci was especially interested in underwater acoustics, and discovered this science in 1490 when he inserted a tube into water and was able to detect vessels by ear.
Not only was da Vinci interested in the logistics of sound and how it travels, he was also a musician. Da Vinci played several instruments, including the lira da braccio which is a type of lyre often used by Italian poet-musicians to accompany their poetry recitations. It was his interest in acoustics that allowed Leonardo to invent new instruments, and improve upon existing ones.
In Leonardo’s Madrid Manuscript II, he depicts a bell being struck with two hammers at its base, and a lever with mechanically-operated heads meant to alter the pitch of the bell. Da Vinci knew that the bell can produce different sounds in different regions, and by dampening other regions with the lever heads, the bell can produce multiple different pitches. The bell appears a total of 40 times in Leonardo’s writings.
Many of da Vinci’s creative breakthroughs came from connecting the unconnected. Da Vinci connected the decay of sound through space to his findings of diminishing perspective optics, on which he based much of his artwork. Da Vinci wrote about volume and the fading of sounds, and observed that you cannot categorize sounds as “small” or “large”, because the distance from which you hear a sound impacts it’s dynamics. Leonardo’s interest in the fading of sounds bleeds into his interest in firearms, namely the acoustical aspects of firing cannons, rifles, and the like.
Eisenberg, Michael. “Sonic Mapping in Leonardo's Disegni.” Leonardo Da Vinci Between Art and Science | Themes And Essays - Music - Eisenberg, Columbia University, 28 Mar. 2014, faculty.virginia.edu/Fiorani/NEH-Institute/essays/themes-and-essays/music/eisenberg.
Fisk, Peter. “What Is Innovation? Connecting the Dots, the Ones Other People Miss.” GeniusWorks, 27 Feb. 2016, www.thegeniusworks.com/2016/02/what-is-innovation-connecting-the-dots-th....
Meurling, Thomas. “Sonar History & Training.” Strategic Sonar Solutions – Helping People with Sonar Solutions for Commercial and Military Applications, Thomas Meurling, thomasmeurling.com/sonar-traning/.
Winternitz, Emanuel. Leonardo Da Vinci as a Musician. Yale University Press, 1982.
Photo obtained from: Eisenberg, Michael. “Sonic Mapping in Leonardo's Disegni.” Leonardo Da Vinci Between Art and Science | Themes And Essays - Music - Eisenberg, Columbia University, 28 Mar. 2014, faculty.virginia.edu/Fiorani/NEH-Institute/essays/themes-and-essays/music/eisenberg.