A FASCINATION WITH WATER

The Codex Leicester is the only one of Leonardo's manuscripts that deals almost exclusively with science. It is a working record of cases, observations and experiments.

Although he covers a variety of topics, Leonardo's fascination with the flow of water is the primary subject of the Codex Leicester. Leonardo had to learn the essential laws of water to succeed as an hydraulic engineer. In the codex he makes plans for water-powered machinery, proposes draining the swamps around Milan, designs a system of canals and locks and makes studies of the rippling motion, eddies and whirlpools of watercourses.

Leonardo's fertile imagination often skips to other subjects and on one page he moves from a discussion of dams to an exploration of light from the moon. He also examines why the sky is blue and how fossil sea shells came to be on mountains.

Study of water flowing around stones
from folio 24r of the Codex Leicester.
Seth Joel/©Corbis

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