The Name "Helicopter" is Coined

In 1863, French scholar and writer, Gustave de Ponton D'Amecourt, coined the name "helicopter" based off the Greek words "helikos" (helix) and "pteron" (wing).  Ponton D'Amecourt had the privilege of studying mathematics, Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin. Gabriel de La Landelle and Ponton D'Amecourt worked together to create a steam boiler engine prototype made of aluminum, so he had a personal connection with helicopters in addition to creating the name. The coining of the name "helicopter" is important as it has not been altered since its initial formation, and it has made it easier for us to look back and locate information about helicopters now. 

Text sources:

Bellis, M. (2019). History of the helicopter. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-the-helicopter-1991899.

Ponton D'Amecourt, Gustave. (2013). Retrieved from https://www.europeana.eu/portal/en/record/2020801/dmglib_handler_biogr_24784004.html.

Image Source:

http://www.famille-damecourt.com/post/Gustave-Vicomte-de-Ponton-d’Amécourt-%281825-1888%292

Maxim machine gun invented

As the Industrial Revolution dawned, new inventions were spring up, taking advantage of new manufacturing techniques. Along with this revolution came new military technologies. One such technology is the Maxim machine gun. Created in about 1884 by inventor and engineer Hiram Maxim, this gun drastically shaped the way wars were fought and the causalities that resulted. It was used by every major power during World War I. It was recoil-operated and had a water jacket around the barrel, which functioned as a way to cool the barrel since the heat from the high number of rounds being fired would otherwise warp the shape of the barrel. Firing at a rate of 500 bullets per minute, it drastically changed battle tactics. Men would have to dash and weave to avoid the spray of damage. Offensive lines could be easily crushed using the Maxim. Unlike the Gatling guns of the time, the Maxim was not hand-cranked and was less prone to becoming jammed.

The effects of the Maxim machine gun were also psychological due to the large number of casualties it could cause in a short amount of time. In one incident where British used the Maxim against Matabele tribesmen, 1600 tribesmen were killed while only 4 British were killed. Several tribe leaders committed suicide after the event due to the trauma of the scene. When used in World War I, the effect was demoralizing as troops would watch their comrades immediately dropped by the powerful weapon.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Maxim Machine Gun.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 7 Sept. 2010, www.britannica.com/technology/Maxim-machine-gun.

Huard, Paul Richard. “Maxim's Machine Gun Slaughtered Hundreds of Thousands of People.” Medium, War Is Boring, 5 Nov. 2014, medium.com/war-is-boring/maxims-machine-gun-slaughtered-hundreds-of-thousands-of-people-f9e068f5148.

The Mona Lisa is Stolen from the Louvre

On August 21, 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre. The ensuing media frenzy was unparalleled for any sort of art theft, and the hysteria bred all sorts of conspiracy theories. One prominent theory was that it was stolen by rogue modernist artists, trying to destroy the old world order and imposing their own. This line of thinking actually led to the arrest of Pable Picasso as a suspect, but he was never convicted. 

The painting was actually stolen by Vincenzo Perugia, who had briefly worked at the Louvre. Wearing a worker's smock, he hid in the museum until after it had closed, took the painting out of the frame, and hid it in a closet. The next morning, he hid it under his smock, and walked right out with it. He kept it in a hidden compartment of a trunk in his house for the next two years. 

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Mona Lisa.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 4 Apr. 2019, www.britannica.com/topic/Mona-Lisa-painting.

Mona Lisa is Recovered

After keeping it in his house for 2 years, Perugia contacted a Florentine art dealer, hoping to sell the painting in Florence. After coming into contact, the dealer manged to convince Perugia to leave the painting with him, and called the police on him. He was arrested at his house half an hour later. His official reasoning was that he mistakenly believed that Napoleon had stolen it from the people of Italy. For the crime, he served a relatively light sentence of eight months. 

Modern Parachute is Patented

Parachute Patent

Multiple people throughout history, including Leonardo da Vinci, have designed parachutes. The modern parachute was not patented until 1920. This version included a ripcord, a folding parachute, and a harness. According to Google Patents, this was filed under patent number US1340423A. The inventor is listed as Floyd Smith. The patent has since expired, and this is a common framework for parachutes in use today.

Sources: 
Leonardo Da Vinci's Life. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.davincilife.com/davincis-parachute.html
US1340423A - Parachute. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://patents.google.com/patent/US1340423A/en

Image Source:
US1340423A - Parachute. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://patents.google.com/patent/US1340423A/en

Mona Lisa Tours the US

The Mona Lisa went on a tour of the Us between November 1962 and March 1963. It was shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the National Gallery of Art in DC and was displayed for 1 week in each location. The  week in the MET drew over 1 million visitors despite bad weather, and its time in DC brought 600 thousand visitors to the National Gallery of Art. This accounted for more than 50% of the normal yearly visitors to the DC museum. 

da Vinci inspires modern works in mathematics and art

A hybrid polyhedron

Although da Vinci’s geometric sketches did not cause radical changes in mathematics, modern mathematicians and artists alike take inspiration from his geometric figures and interest in the transformation of shapes. George Hart is a professor recently retired from SUNY Stony Brook whose research was heavily inspired by da Vinci’s polyhedra sketches; by integrating the fields of math, computer science, and art he developed a computer program that synthesized new hybrid polyhedra. Likewise, several artists have been inspired by da Vinci’s thoughts on the transition of shapes. For example, sculptor Charles Perry created structures that depict abstract shapes underdoing transformation.

Sources

Shearer, Rhonda Roland. “Chaos Theory and Fractal Geometry: Their Potential Impact on the Future of Art.” Leonardo, vol. 25, no. 2, 1992, pp. 143–152., doi:10.2307/1575702.

Perry, Charles O. “On the Edge of Science: The Role of the Artists Intuition in Science.” Leonardo, vol. 25, no. 3/4, 1992, pp. 249–252., doi:10.2307/1575845.

Peterson, Ivars. “Polyhedron Man.” Science News, vol. 160, no. 25/26, 2001, pp. 396–398., doi:10.2307/4012851.

The image is taken from the following article "Polyhedron Man" that is listed above.

First Test of a da Vinci Parachute

Adrian Nicholas was a British skydiver. As Leonardo da Vinci's design for the parachute was never tested, Nicholas wanted to confirm the theory. Katarina Ollikainen (his girlfriend) constructed a prototype based off of Leonardo da Vinci's sketch, even utilizing only period accurate tools and materials.  The parachute was in the shape of a 24 ft by 24 ft square-based pyramid. The four sides were to be covered in sealed linen. Against the skeptisism from experts, Nicholas attempted the jump from a hot-air balloon at almost 10,000 feet. The only fear was with the landing, with the concern that the 187 pound device would crush him. Because of this, he allowed himself to fall with da Vinci's parachute until he reached about 2000 feet, then cut himself free and deployed a modern parachute for the landing. He commented that the da Vinci device had a smoother ride than modern day parachutes. Also interesting: after being thrown away, the device floated to the ground, only sustaining minor damages on impact. A quote from Nicholas was "It took one of the greatest minds who ever lived to design it, but it took 500 years to find a man with a brain small enough to actually go and fly it."

Sources and Image Source:
Leonardo Da Vinci's Life. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.davincilife.com/davincis-parachute.html
Adrian Nicholas Proves Da Vinci Chute Works. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.dropzone.com/articles/news/adrian-nicholas-proves-da-vinci-c...
Orton, D. C. (2004, March 29). Parachute. Retrieved from http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/leonardo/parachute.html

Vebjørn Sand da Vinci Bridge

Between 1997 and 2001, Norwegian painter and artist Vebjørn Sand formed a partnership with the Norwegian Public Roads Administration to build what became known as the Vebjørn Sand da Vinci Bridge. Based on Leonardo da Vinci's arched bridge design originally intended for the Golden Horn of present day Istanbul, Sand's pedestrian bridge was built over European route E18 in Ås, Norway. The Vebjørn Sand da Vinci Bridge is smaller version of da Vinci's parabolic arch design which used a wider base to more effectively distribute force, a principle which da Vinci discovered centuries before its common use.

This bridge also launched the Oslo Leonardo Bridge Project. The project aims to build da Vinci footbridges all around the world using local resources, and Sand hopes to use the bridge as "a logo for all nations" according to the Wall Street Journal.

Sources:

Morris, Jan. “Spanning Past and Present.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 5 Nov. 2005, www.wsj.com/articles/SB113113585415688626.

Nash, Eric P. “After 500 Years, Leonardo Gets His Bridge.” New York Times, vol. 151, no. 51962, 2001, p. 3.

Wikimedia Foundation. “Vebjørn Sand Da Vinci Project.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 31 Jan. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vebj%C3%B8rn_Sand_Da_Vinci_Project.

This image by Åsmund Ødegård (Flickr) is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0), via Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ADa_Vinci_Bridge.jpg

Lupu Bridge Opens to Public

While Leonardo da Vinci’s bridge design has never been implemented on the scale he imagined, key concepts in his design live on in many modern-day architectural marvels, including the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Lupu Bridge pictured here. The Lupu Bridge in Shanghai, opened in 2003, spans the Huangpu River. It is built with a tied-arch design, meaning that both ends are “tied” by the deck, which lessens the horizontal force of the arches on the bases. The bridge is also a through arch bridge, meaning that some of the arch was below the deck, while the rest of the arch is above the deck. The parabolic shape, as proposed by da Vinci in his notebook, remains especially advantageous because it equally distributes weight along the entire length. With the tied deck, this allows for the bridge to support enormous amounts of weight even in non-ideal ground conditions, such as the soft soil in Shanghai. Besides facilitating transportation, the bridge also serves as a tourist attraction; visitors can climb to the top of the arch for panoramic views of the city.

Sources:

Atalay, B. (2013, February 3). LEONARDO’S BRIDGE: Part 3. “Vebjørn Sand and Variations on a Theme by Leonardo”. Retrieved May 13, 2019, from https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2013/02/03/leonardos-bridge-part-3-vebjrn-sand-and-variations-on-a-theme-by-leonardo/

[Bridge of Lupu over the Huangpu river in Shanghai (China)]. (2012, August 5). Retrieved May 15, 2019, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lupu_Bridge,_Huangpu_River.JPG

The Lupu Bridge, Shanghai, China. (n.d.). Retrieved May 15, 2019, from https://www.iabse.org/IABSE/association/Award_files/Outstanding_Structure_Award/The_Lupu_Bridge__Shanghai__China.aspx

Tied-Arch Bridge Facts, History, and Examples. (2019). Retrieved May 15, 2019, from http://www.historyofbridges.com/facts-about-bridges/tied-arch-bridge/

The Only Modern Viola Organista is Constructed

In 2009, Pole Slawomir Zubryzycki begins work on the first known viola organista based directly on da Vinci’s designs. Zubryzycki synthesized this design with the descriptions of Michael Praetorius, a sixteenth century German organist. Praetorius released a series of volumes under the title Syntagma Musicum, where he illustrated and described various musical instruments from the time, including the Geigenwerk made by Hans Heyden. Zubryzycki was also inspired by the viola de gamba contained in the drawings, a seven-stringed chordophone similar in appearance to the cello. The goal was to create an instrument that was mechanically similar to da Vinci’s organista, with the timbre of the viola de gamba.

In 2012, the instrument was completed. Zubryzycki would perform on the organista for the first time on October 18^th, 2013, at the International Royal Cracow Piano Festival, in his hometown. The next three years were spent touring the instrument in seventeen countries. During this time, he would record a solo album entitled “Viola Organista – The da Vinci Sound,” released in 2015.

Zubryzycki, S. (2015). Reconstruction. Retrieved from http://www.violaorganista.com/en/about/reconstruction/

Jobson, C. (2013, November 18). Polish Concert Pianist Builds a 'Viola Organista' Based on a 500-Year-Old Leonardo Da Vinci Sketch. Retrieved from https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2013/11/viola-organista/