NASA Talk Examines How Leonardo da Vinci Invented the Future

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May 12, 2014, 02:10 ET

HAMPTON, Va., May 12, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Tuesday, May 13 at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, Bulent Atalay -- artist, author and scientist -- will present "Leonardo and the Intersection of Art and Science" at 2 p.m. in the Reid Conference Center.

Atalay will discuss how the creator of some of the most famous works in the history of art was only a part-time artist. It was his full-time curiosity to understand the world that drove him to study nature, make careful observations, seek mathematical proofs and record all his findings.

Atalay will be available to answer questions from the media during a news briefing at 1:15 p.m. that day. Media who wish to do so should contact Chris Rink at 757-864-6786, or by e-mail at [email protected], by noon on the day of the talk for credentials and entry to the center.

That same evening at 7:30, Atalay will present a similar program for the general public at the Virginia Air & Space Center in downtown Hampton. This Sigma Series event is free and no reservations are required.

A creator who approached science through art and art through science, Atalay's lecture will look at Leonardo's grand achievements and his status as a visionary. Some of his discoveries preceded achievements associated with Galileo, Newton and Darwin.

He even prefigured entire sciences not to be formally invented for centuries. Leonardo created paintings that showed knowledge of aerodynamics, optics, geology, hydrology, physics and mathematics, and mechanical drawings for futuristic technology.

Described by National Public Radio, the Washington Post, and the National Geographic Society as a 21st Century Renaissance Man, Atalay is a professor emeritus of physics at the University of Mary Washington, adjunct professor at the University of Virginia, and a member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton

He is the author of "Math and the Mona Lisa," available in 14 languages, and "Leonardo's Universe."

For more information about NASA Langley's Colloquium and Sigma Series Lectures, visit:

http://colloqsigma.larc.nasa.gov

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SOURCE NASA