Codex on the Flight of Birds

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Ms B Fol 88v: Design for a flying machine or catapul, taken from the codex.
Ms B Fol 88v: Design for a flying machine or catapul, taken from the codex.

Codex on the Flight of Birds is a relatively short codex of circa 1505[1] by Leonardo da Vinci. It comprises 18 folios and measures 21 × 15 centimetres. Now held at the Biblioteca Reale in Turin, Italy, the codex begins with an examination of the flight behavior of birds and proposes mechanisms for flight by machines. Da Vinci constructed a number of these machines, and attempted to launch them from a hill near florence. However, his efforts failed.[2]

In the codex, Da Vinci notes for the first time that the center of gravity of a flying bird does not coincide with its center of lift.

[edit] Citations

  1. ^ Pedretti, 37
  2. ^ Cremante, 53

[edit] Sources

  • Cremante, Simona. "Leonardo Da Vinci". Giunti, 2005.
  • Crispino, Enrica; Pedretti, Carlo; Frost, Catherine. "Leonardo: Art and Science". Giunti, 2001. ISBN 8-8090-1511-8
  • Pedretti, Carlo. "A Chronology of Leonardo Da Vinci's Architectural Studies after 1500". Geneva: E. Droz, 1962.
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