Leonardo da Vinci, the Scientist
Leonardo da vinci, founder of the classic style of High Renaissance celebrates his birth anniversary.
Great Thinker Datebook: April 15
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Italian painter, sculptor, architect, engineer and scientist, is born April 15, in the Republic of Florence.
Da Vinci was the founder of the classic style of High Renaissance. Less than twenty of this paintings are known, and few of them completed to his satisfaction. Da Vinci is best known for Mona Lisa and The Last Supper.
As his brilliant mind flowed with ideas, Da Vinci kept these ideas either written or doodled on his notepads. He left numerous notebooks of writings and sketches. Notably, Leonardo da Vinci’s writings were written backward, so that it could only be legible when held up to a mirror.
When he was 30 years old, da Vinci began a sculpture of a horse, said to be difficult to design because the final product weighed many tons when cast in bronze. He spent years sketching the solution how the horse could be balanced. When he finally tried to cast the horse, all the bronze had been used to built cannons for the impending war. The horse sculpture remained unfinished until 1999, not until a Japanese-American sculptor used his drawings and plans to build the horse. The completed horse sculpture was 23 feet high, weighed 15 tons. It was perfectly balanced!
Leonardo is best known for his painting the Mona Lisa, considered the most recognizable and analyzed work of art. Many scholars tried to determine the identity of the woman in the painting. Today, songs are composed and fiction books written about her.
One of Leonardo da Vinci’s last known paintings is St John the Baptist. In 1517, two years before he died, he became chief painter, architect, and engineer to Francis I at Amboise, France. He died there.
[amazon_image id="1153715112" link="true" target="_blank" size="medium" ]The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci – Complete[/amazon_image]
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Robert Burns Woodward: Synthesis of Organic Substances
American Chemist Robert Woodward, is known for his synthesis of complex organic substances, including cholesterol and vitamin B12.
Great Scientist Datebook: April 10.
Robert Burns Woodward (April 10, 1917 – July 8, 1979), was an American chemist born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of an English father and Scottish mother.
He became professor Harvard and was a Nobel laureate, awarded a Nobel Prize in 1965 in recognition of his synthesis of a number of complex organic substances including cholesterol, cortisone, strychnine, reserpine, chlorophyll, lysergic acid, and some others.
Robert Woodward worked closely with Roald Hoffman on theoretical studies of chemical reactions. His contributions are significant especially in the area of organic chemistry.
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Ada Lovelace and Lovelace Day
Spotlighting Countess Ada Lovelace, World’s First Computer Programmer!
To recognise the role of women in technology, March 24 was celebrated as Ada Lovelace Day. According to the article from BBC by Zoe Kleinman, “Ada Lovelace was voted the most popular technology heroine.” The blogosphere world referred to it as an international day of blogging as a celebration of women’s achievements in technology.
Countess Ada Lovelace, the only legitimate daughter of the famous English poet Lord Byron, was the first computer programmer.
Born Augusta Ada Byron in Marylebone, London, on December 10, 1815, was an English writer who worked on the analytical engine of Babbage. Babbage. Countess of Lovelace (Augusta Ada King) studied astronomy, mathematics, Latin and music. She later worked as a designer of arithmetical operations for calculating machines with English mathematician and inventor Charles Babbage.
Lady Lovelace wrote the world’s first computer programs for the analytical engine of Charles Babbage. Ahead of her time, her works were published in 1843, although like her other predecessors, the work of Lovelace was also largely forgotten. Significantly, the calculating machines are the forerunners of today’s computers. Ada Lovelace died on 27th November, 1852. She was only 36.
For many women bloggers, including these writer who enjoys having various blogs, we are proud to recognize the contribution of Ada Lovelace who paved the way for computer programming.
To the organizers of the Ada Lovelace Day, thank you.
Interested readers may want to check out some of my related articles on Ada Lovelace:
Article from BBC on Ada Lovelace Day:
Link to Ada Lovelace Day organizers:
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
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ATM for Books Invention
Espresso Book Machine (EBM) Launched in Australia
The first Espresso Book Machine (EBM) was recently launched at Angus & Robertson (A&R) bookstore, Bourke Street in Melbourne, Australia. This machine, dubbed as an “ATM for books” can print and bind a paperback book at the press of a button. It is the first in-store print-on-demand book in Australia to be installed in a retail environment.
Angus & Robertson’s launch is collaborated with Central Books Services, the Australian book wholesaler and supplier of the Espresso Book Machine in Australia, and On Demand Books. A&R is the first Australian book chain to use what Time Magazine has referred to as an “ATM for Books.” EBM will be marketed in-store as
“The StoryMaker.”
People Behind EBM: Jeff March, Epstein and Neller
The company behind Espresso Book Machine is On Demand Books, founded by book editor Jason Epstein and Dane Neller. The technology, however, was developed some eight years ago by Jeff March, technology advisor for New York City-based ODB (ondemandbooks.com).
Read more — Invention: ATM for Books – Espresso Book Machine (EBM) launched in Australia
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