eonardo da Vinci was an artist who became a scientist by asking what underlay the world he so brilliantly depicted. Behind the asymmetric smile of the “Mona Lisa” lay a complex interplay of facial muscles; in sketching a waterfall, Da Vinci became fascinated by fluid dynamics. (Stefan Klein’s thought-provoking book, Leonardo’s Legacy, provides a persuasive account of this process of discovery.) The exact extent of Da Vinci’s innovations are a matter of debate, but surely there is no dispute that he was one of western civilisation’s great geniuses.
藝術家列奧納多•達芬奇(Leonardo da Vinci)能夠精妙地描繪所看到的世界，但在探尋這個世界背後玄機的過程中，他成爲了一個科學家。蒙娜•麗莎(Mona Lisa)不對稱的微笑，體現了臉部肌肉之間複雜的相互作用；在勾畫一座瀑布時，達芬奇迷上了流體力學。（斯特凡•克萊因(Stefan Klein)在他那本發人深省的著作《達芬奇的遺產》(Leonardo’s Legacy)中，令人信服地描述了達芬奇的科學發現過程）。儘管達芬奇究竟做出了多少創新發現還存在爭議，但有一點毋庸置疑：達芬奇是西方文明史上一個偉大的天才。