500 Years Later, MIT Proves That Leonardo Da Vinci's Bridge Design Works

Popular Mechanics ^ | Oct 10, 2019 | David Grossman

[SunkenCiv]

You saw what I did there.

Clapton decided not to wait for Harrison, either for the bridge or the actual title of the composition.

[EEGator]

I’m very biased, but I would remove Edison from your list, and I would add Newton.

[LibWhacker]

All great men and we were lucky to have had them. But Da Vinci seems to have been in a class all his own... From Wiki:

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci ... was an Italian polymath of the Renaissance whose areas of interest included science and invention, drawing, painting, sculpture, architecture, music, mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, paleontology, and cartography. He has been variously called the father of palaeontology, ichnology, and architecture, and is widely considered one of the greatest painters of all time (despite perhaps only 15 of his paintings having survived).

[Red Badger]

Yes, I was hesitant for Edison. Newton should be on the list......................

[DFG]

BOOKMARK

[ElkGroveDan]

[Titus-Maximus]

Before we look at this bridge, where was DaVinci on race?

[RBStealth]

its just an arch, been around since the Roman Empire.

[hecticskeptic]

I wonder why the da Vinci used a ‘pair of pants’ design to connect to the support point on each side. Yes it saves a bit of material to put that arch in there but it seems to be a lot of extra work for no additional gain. Was it aesthetics?

[Red Badger]

Ars gratia artis...................

[Red Badger]

In his time they were called Moors................

[wildbill]

Ancient Alien IQ in mortal or ET? Ask Georgio

[JoeFromSidney]

Suddenly I heard the voice my late father saying,"You could walk a mule across it." His favorite description of a well-made thing

[Red Badger]

A thing of beauty is forever...................

[Tallguy]

It looks like Da Vinci was leveraging well establish Roman building techniques by leveraging the arch along more than one axis. Heck a dome is just an arch rotated about its central axis.

If this bridge were to be over a river I would expect that the Romans would simply divert the river, construct as scaffold, build their arch bridge, then allow the river to resume it’s previous course. Brute force IOW’s.

[11th_VA]

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. ”

- Leonardo da Vinci

[Jane Long]

Awesome...will have to look for those.

[Red Badger]

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler. - Albert Einstein .................

[11th_VA]

I wonder why the da Vinci used a ‘pair of pants’ design to connect to the support point on each side.

Da Vinci studied nature - his designs mimicked what he saw in nature (ie; his 'Tank' design was modeled after a turtle)

[11th_VA]

The design also looks to borrow from a ‘Roman Arch’ design, on 4 sides