Leonardo's Method

Dr. Kenneth D. Keele, M.D., F.R.C.P. and the author [Dr. Kim Veltman] reconstructed some of Leonardo's descriptions of perspective in order to determine whether these had an experimental basis. It was found that they did. The possibility that they had simply been thought experiments was excluded because some of his claims were so unlikely that they had to be tested in order to make sense. page book

The evidence of Leonardo's notebooks confirmed that he was widely read and had many contacts. His extant treatises revealed much more structure than has generally been assumed. Moreover, they evidenced a number of clear plans for books. Examination of his entire extant corpus brought to light another unexpected feature: for all their universality the notebooks are focussed on a surprisingly small number of basic themes: crucial among these are his studies of transformational geometry and a mechanical approach to nature, which uses as a point of departure his concept of four powers (weight, force, motion and percussion), and serves ultimately to integrate both his study of the microcosm (anatomy) and the macrocosm (astronomy) within a single grand plan. It was shown that these studies were guided by a distinct method of listing variables systematically and playing with them experimentally. It was claimed that the results of this enterprise inspired him to write treatises and led him to make serious plans for publication.

da Vinci annotated his own manuscripts in a methodical way, mining his own work for common themes and connecting and threading many experiments.

See Commonplace Book and Zettelkasten.

Compare General Inductive Analysis