“Vinci” was NOT Leonardo’s surname. Italian children who were “illegittimo” did not inherit the father’s surname. Like that other Michelangelo, Michelangelo da Caravaggio, Leonardo’s commonly used last name was the name of a place (the “da” in the name — Itey for “from” — is a clue). “Vinci” is the village within the city of Florenece where Leonardo’s mother lived.
“...a hidden order beneath the visible world....”
And how right they were. One of the definining characteristics of metals is that they all have a microscopic crystalline structure. For centuries people would examine a piece of metal that had failed structurally, see the sparkly bits and assume the metal had failed because it had “crystallized.” In fact, what had happened was the metal failed along crystalline boundaries, which made the structure visible to the naked eye when it broke.
Thx PG.