Leonardo da Vinci

Studies of Turbulent Water shows Leonardo’s understanding of how vortices move.(Leonardo da Vinci, Studies of Turbulent Water, Royal Collection Trust/© Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2019)

Leonardo da Vinci’s studies in flow On the 500th anniversary of the Renaissance icon’s death, historian Martin Kemp looks anew at Leonardo da Vinci’s voracious explorations of fluid dynamics through his drawings of water and blood. “He saw the human body as a ‘lesser world’, mirroring the forms and functions of the wider world,” writes Kemp of Leonardo’s fascination with water’s motion in seas, rivers and canals in the form of vene d’aqua (veins of water), on Earth’s surface and underground. Nature | 6 min read