Lessons from 12 of History's Innovators

By Jeff Davidson

To start developing your own innovation skills, take a lesson from some of history's greatest

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jeff Davidson
• Release date: Dec 20, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370863532

Jeff Davidson

An Adams Media author.

Book preview

Lessons from 12 of History’s Innovators

By Jeff Davidson

You’ve probably heard of Leonardo da Vinci, and not merely because of The Da Vinci Code! He painted the famous Last Supper, Mona Lisa, and several other prodigious works, featured in renowned museums around the world. His contributions to art, however, are more than matched by his prowess in mathematics and science. He was considered to be an unparalleled thinker, scientist, inventor, and designer; an innovator far ahead of his time, designing both civil and military machinery.

He was born in the village of Vinci, located between the Tuscan cities of Pistoia and Empoli, and as a child, da Vinci showed extraordinary talent at music, art, and mathematics, as well as skill at sketching plants and animals. Young Leonardo demonstrated an uncanny knack for observation, an ability which would soon translate into a skill of invention.

Mister Wizard

To this day, da Vinci’s innovations in the fields of physics, anatomy, physiology, mechanics, hydraulics, zoology, philosophy, hydrodynamics, mathematics, aeronautics, engineering, orbital mechanics, botany, and optics have all proven to be invaluable. He designed the first parachute, and some experts hold that the helicopter was inspired by da Vinci’s ornithopter flying machine design.

He lived by the phrase, things of the mind left untested by the senses are useless. He was able to perceive, record, examine, think, and speculate – he took nothing in this world for granted. He constantly strove to find new, interesting knowledge that he would intelligently employ to accomplish goals, and he tested every design he could afford to build.

Three methods of inquiry shaped da Vinci’s interaction with the physical world around him:

* retrospective inquiry, in which he analyzed the physical world;

* prospective inquiry, in which he imagined how he could use his knowledge in new, innovative ways;

* speculative inquiry, in which he united retrospective and prospective inquiry for grand scientific exploration.

Da Vinci’s artistic eye and observational skills helped him in the retrospective phase of his quest to invent and develop things not yet in existence. He constantly examined physical reality, analyzing and recording everything he could sense through drawing, painting, and sculpture. Countless numbers of da