Leonardo da Vinci at the Ontario Science Centre

Hi readers,

Have you heard of Leonardo da Vinci? You may know him as the painter of the famous Mona Lisa. But did you know he’s also one of history’s greatest inventors? chickaDEE had the opportunity to go to the opening of a new exhibition at the Ontario Science Centre and check out Leonardo da Vinci’s Workshop – The Exhibition.

Leonardo was always dreaming, painting and inventing. He left behind thousands of pages of drawings of mechanical devices, machines, instruments and more. A team of researchers in Italy decided to take Leonardo’s designs and make real-life models out of them. That’s what this exhibit is all about!

The exhibit features models of Leonardo’s inventions and tons of interactive touch screens so you can see how they actually move and work. Check out some of the cool things I saw below.

Here is a mechanical lion. Leonardo built it for a French king. The lion can actually walk a few steps and then release lilies from his chest!

This is a Great Kite Flying Machine. He invented it after watching how birds fly. A person was supposed to sit in the contraption and move the wings with his hands and feet. (Unfortunately, it never worked, but he did draw up these plans hundreds of years before airplanes were invented!)

Here is a recreation of Leonardo’s workshop. Imagine that this is where he painted the super-duper famous Mona Lisa!

The exhibition opens today and goes on until March 28, 2012. If you live near Toronto, you should definitely check it out. What do you think of this exhibition?

Talk to you later,

Mandy

Editor of chickaDEE