| Submit your comments on this article |
| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Secret DaVinci Lab Found |
| 2005-01-12 |
| Researchers have discovered the hidden laboratory used by Leonardo Da Vinci for studies of flight and other pioneering scientific work in previously sealed rooms at a monastery next to the Basilica of the Santissima Annunziata, in the heart of Florence. The workshop rooms, located between the Institute for Military Geography and the Basilica, include frescos on walls painted by Da Vinci that have "impressive resemblances" to other examples of his experimental work, including a tryptich of birds circling above a subsequently erased representation of the Virgin Mary that "constitutes a clear citation of the studies by the Maestro on the flight of birds", according to the three researchers, Alessandro Del Meglio, Roberto Manneschalchi and Maria Carchio. An angel painted as standing at the side of the fresco scene bears a striking resemblance to the angel in an Annunciation attributed to Da Vinci in Florence's Uffizi Gallery. snip The discovery coincides with the opening in Rome on Tuesday of another major exhibit of 70 tables from Da Vinci's Codex Atalanticus, incorporating his visions of flying and other machines at Rome's Lincei Academy.snip The exhibition displays Da Vinci's designs next to working models of his versions of machines and modern machines operating today.snip |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #3 Belaclava was lost on the playing fields of Eaton. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-01-12 6:13:59 PM |
| #2 In those days religion was the playing field of the ignorant |
| Posted by: BigEd 2005-01-12 4:38:45 PM |
| #1 In those days religion was the playing firled of the ignorany. The execution or imprisionment of various personalities who were seekers of knowledge was endemic in the body politic of the time : BARTOLOMEU DE GUSMÃO Father Bartolomeu de Gusmão, a Jesuit priest, was a major figure in aerostatics and is renowned for the bird-shaped balloon he built and which was named "Passarola". On 8 August 1709, in âCasa da Indiaâ, Gusmão made a hot-air filled paper balloon ascent 4 meters in the presence of the court, the Ambassadors, and religious dignitaries, among whom was Cardinal Conti (later Pope Innocent XIII). The hot air was produced by âfire burning in a clay bowl nested in a wooden tray at the bottom of the balloon.â Fearing that the curtains would catch fire, the servants destroyed the balloon, but the experiment was a success. Bartolomeu de Gusmão proceeded with his experiments with larger balloons and the legend has it that eventually he himself flew a balloon which was launched from St. Jorge Castle, on top of one of Lisbonâs seven hills, covered 1 km, and crashed in Terreiro do Paço. This bird-shaped balloon was to become known as the âPassarolaâ, but following this feat, Gusmãoâs fortunes seemed to have waned. Intrigue and jealousy made him fall from grace and, when he was black-listed by the Inquisition, he found sanctuary with the Jesuits who sent him to Spain in 1724, where he eventually died in total destitution. In modern times it is the athiest academics who are the troublesome ones like those who will not allow non-athiests into their university courses... Full circle in 400 years... |
| Posted by: BigEd 2005-01-12 4:37:48 PM |