Fail-Safe Structural Design

1958 ◽  
Vol 62 (569) ◽  
pp. 363-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. F. Harpur
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Structural Design ◽  
Da Vinci ◽  
Leonardo Da Vinci ◽  
The Other ◽  
The One ◽  
Fail Safe

Around the end of the fifteenth century were written what must have been about the first set of airworthiness requirements ever compiled. These were notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci in which he discussed the physics of flight and the design of flying machines. In one of these notebooks he wrote:—“ In constructing wings one should make one cord to bear the strain and a looser one in the same position so that if the one breaks under the strain the other is in position to serve the same function.”

Structural Innovation and Structural Design in Renaissance Architecture

1993 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard J. Betts
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Structural Design ◽  
Da Vinci ◽  
Leonardo Da Vinci ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Leon Battista Alberti ◽  
Renaissance Architecture ◽  
Structural Innovation ◽  
Barrel Vaults

The characteristic structural forms of large Renaissance churches-domes, drums, pendentives, and barrel vaults-were the products of innovation in theory and practice during the later fifteenth century in Italy that culminated in Bramante's projects for the new Saint Peter's. Significant ideas were contributed by Leon Battista Alberti, Francesco di Giorgio, and Leonardo da Vinci. Francesco di Giorgio's geometrical methods of design for churches as described in his second treatise incorporate a procedure for calculating the thickness of walls bearing vaults. Francesco di Giorgio tested the procedure in his own churches, and it was later used by Bramante.

scholarly journals Debating as an educational method to science and citizenship

2007 ◽  
Vol 06 (03) ◽  
pp. C08
Author(s):  
Sara Calcagnini
Keyword(s):  
Da Vinci ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Leonardo Da Vinci ◽  
The Other ◽  
Science Museums ◽  
Educational Method ◽  
The Real ◽  
The Public ◽  
Aims Of Science ◽  
The One

If one of aims of science today is to respond to the real needs of society, it must find a new way to communicate with people and to be acquainted with their opinions and knowledge. Many science museums in Europe are adopting new ways to actively engage the public in the debate on topical scientific issues. The Museum of Science and Technology "Leonardo da Vinci" in Milan (partner of the SEDEC project) has thus experimented some formats for dialogue with teachers and with the public in general. Our experience shows that museums can be places where science and the public on the one hand and democracy on the other meet.

scholarly journals Three Points of View for the Drawing Adoration of the Magi by Leonardo da Vinci

Heritage ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 2183-2204
Author(s):  
Fabrizio Ivan Apollonio ◽  
Riccardo Foschi ◽  
Marco Gaiani
Keyword(s):  
Da Vinci ◽  
Leonardo Da Vinci ◽  
The Other ◽  
Vanishing Points ◽  
Classical Architecture ◽  
Architectural Elements ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
The One

This contribution to the literature presents an in-depth analysis of the scene drawn by Leonardo da Vinci in the preparatory drawing, Adoration of the Magi, dated 1481, that is now housed at the Département des Arts Graphiques du Musée du Louvre in Paris, France. This analysis focuses on the architectural elements and highlights how the drawing discloses three distinct vanishing points/centers of vision: one for the classical architecture to the left of the scene, one for the Nativity hut, and one for the structure with stairs. If we consider the structures as belonging to the same 2D projected space, at least two must be depicted out of square; conversely, if we consider them as straight, standard structures, they cannot belong to the same 2D projected space. Given this assumption, we propose, on the one hand, some variations of the scene where the structures are straightened and projected according to only one of the viewpoints at a time; on the other hand, a set of variants of the scene are presented, considering the out-of-square structures. The scenes are generated by applying inverse perspective projections. These results prompt a discussion on possible reasons why Leonardo made these conscious or unconscious “formal errors”.

ON A FIFTEENTH CENTURY TEST FOR STERILITY

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1970 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-343
Author(s):  
T. E. C.
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Medical Literature ◽  
The Other ◽  
The One

Barren marriages until the present century were usually considered a sign of Divine displeasure. But as knowledge of the phsyiology of reproduction was a closed book until recently, many preternatural methods for determining whether sterility was the fault of either husband or wife may be found in the medical literature of the Renaissance. None is more fanciful than the following from an English leechbook of the fifteenth century: Knowing the default of conception, whether it belong to the man or the woman. Take two new earthen pots, each by itself; and let the woman make water in the one, and the man in the other; and put in each of them a quantity of wheatbran, and not too much, that it be not thick, but be liquid or running; and mark well the pots for identification, and let them stand ten days and ten nights, and thou shalt see in the water that is in default small live worms; and if there appear no worms in either water, then they be likely to have children in process of time when God will.1 Dawson2 writes that this and similar experiments are ancient ones and are described in Egyptian papyri.

The politics of the unities: tragedy and the Risorgimento in Byron and Manzoni

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnold Anthony Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Political Change ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
The One ◽  
Original Approach

This chapter takes an original approach to Byron’s much-discussed engagement with the early Risorgimento by focusing not on biographical aspects, but rather on formal issues. It centres on The Two Foscari in the context of the highly politicised contemporary Italian critical debates about the dramatic unities. In this fashion, it teases out the political implications of Byron’s adherence to the unities by comparing his play to Alessandro Manzoni’s Il conte di Carmagnola, which programmatically violates them. Focusing specifically on the playwrights’ representations of the fifteenth-century mercenary leader, Francesco Bussone da Carmagnola, the chapter explores these writers’ use or abuse of the unity of time, in particular. In doing so, it throws light on, and contrasts, Manzoni’s Risorgimento agenda on the one hand and Byron’s generally sceptical attitude about leadership and uncertainty about social and political change on the other.

Fr. Pavel Florensky

2019 ◽  
pp. 98-108
Author(s):  
Teresa Obolevitch
Keyword(s):  
Da Vinci ◽  
Science And Religion ◽  
Leonardo Da Vinci ◽  
Rational System ◽  
Rational Expression ◽  
Religious Truth ◽  
Pavel Florensky ◽  
The One ◽  
Science And Faith ◽  
The Universe

Chapter 9 considers the philosophy of Fr. Pavel Florensky, “the Russian Leonardo da Vinci” who presented the most impressive attempt at the reconciliation of faith and science. Florensky was skeptical about the possibility of the rational expression of the content of revelation and maintained that a rational system violates the one religious Truth. At the same time, he tried to create a fusion of science and faith in the spirit of concordism. Emphasizing the antinomic character of the universe, he nevertheless believed in the possibility of overcoming the antinomy between science and religion, and of creating religious science and scientific religion.

scholarly journals Images and Theories

Nuncius ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 442-463
Author(s):  
Domenico Laurenza
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Microscopic Examination ◽  
Da Vinci ◽  
Leonardo Da Vinci ◽  
The Other ◽  
Analogical Model ◽  
Other Hand

Abstract The paper examines how images, technological-artistic knowledge and theories interacted with each other in early modern geology. Casting techniques provided Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) with an analogical model for the study of fossils, which he expounded using only texts and theories, not images. For painter Agostino Scilla, on the other hand, images of fossils and animals (La Vana speculazione disingannata dal senso, Napoli, 1670) were the key-feature of his approach, intentionally limited to the external aspects of the specimen, the very domain of the painter. Theories and microscopic examination of the internal aspects orientated Robert Hooke’s visual comparisons in Micrographia (London, 1665), aimed at demonstrating the organic origin of fossils, while, in the same period, visual comparisons were used to support opposite interpretations of fossils as well, like in the case of Francesco Stelluti.

EERI Distinguished Lecture 1997 Professional Commitments to Earthquake Engineering

1998 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 651-657
Author(s):  
Thomas Paulay
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Design ◽  
Earthquake Engineering ◽  
Structural Design ◽  
Design Strategy ◽  
The Other ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Generous Support ◽  
The One ◽  
Creative Effort ◽  
Quality Construction

Philosophical concepts, biased toward structural design in seismic regions, are offered. Certain misconceptions in the aims, planning and execution of structural design are sketched. Apparent diverging professional interests, motivating on the one hand young academics dedicated to pursuing challenges in research, and on the other hand those of experienced practitioners, are contrasted. A plea is made to use in seismic design rationality and simplicity in application. The primary aim in the art of structural design should be to impart to the system specific properties that will make the seismic response of our buildings extremely tolerant with respect to earthquake-induced demands, which presently we can predict only with considerable crudeness. A postulated rational and deterministic, yet simple, design strategy should be implemented with equal dedication to high-quality construction. This part of the creative effort is likely to result in properties of the finished product, our buildings, which earthquakes will also recognize and respect. An appeal is made to all those committed to earthquake engineering to engage in active and generous support of technology transfer in an attempt to alleviate the overwhelming and immediate needs of societies in developing countries.

‘Abd al-Qādir al-Marāghī and ‘Alī b. Muḥammad Binā'ī: two fifteenth-century examples of notation Part 2: Commentary

1995 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-39
Author(s):  
O. Wright
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Text Setting ◽  
Musical Practice ◽  
Reliable Evidence ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
History Of Composition ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Shed Light

Part 1 of this paper was concerned principally with the various problems that confront any attempt to provide a satisfactory transcription of these two examples. Given the nature of the difficulties encountered, it is clear that any generalizations we might wish to derive from them can only be tentative and provisional. Nevertheless, the paucity of comparable material, which on the one hand renders the interpretative hurdles all the more difficult to surmount, on the other makes the urge to draw at least some conclusions from the material provided by ‘Abd al-Qādir al-Marāghī and Binā'ī well-nigh irresistible. Such conclusions would involve, essentially, an assessment of the extent to which their notations shed light on the musical practice of the period and provide reliable evidence for the history of composition and styles of textsetting. But in any evaluation of this nature it is essential to avoid the temptation to confuse the sources with the speculative editorial interventions that produce the versions presented in part 1 (exs. 26–8 and 30). The area about which least can be said with regard to the naqsh notated by Binā'ī is, therefore, the nature of the text-setting, while with regard to ‘Abd al-Qādir al-Marāghī's notations it is, rather, the first topic we may consider, the relationship between melody and the underlying articulation of the rhythmic cycle.

scholarly journals Anatomy of a Dispute: Leonardo, Pacioli and Scientific Courtly Entertainment in Renaissance Milan

2004 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica Azzolini
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Da Vinci ◽  
Leonardo Da Vinci ◽  
Vantage Point ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Social Advancement

AbstractHistorians have recently paid increasing attention to the role of the disputation in Italian universities and humanist circles. By contrast, the role of disputations as forms of entertainment at fifteenth-century Italian courts has been somewhat overlooked. In this article, the Milanese "scientific duel" (a courtly disputation) described in Luca Pacioli's De divina proportione is taken as a vantage point for the study of the dynamics of scientific patronage and social advancement as reflected in Renaissance courtly disputes. Pacioli names Leonardo da Vinci as one of the participants in the Milanese dispute. In this paper I argue that Leonardo's Paragone and Pacioli's De divina proportione are likewise the outcome of the Milanese "scientific duel." By challenging the traditional hierarchy of the arts, they both exemplify the dynamics of social and intellectual promotion of mathematicians and artists in the privileged setting of Renaissance courts, where courtly patronage could subvert the traditional disciplinary rankings.

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