Visions of the Future

Leonardo described and sketched ideas for many inventions hundreds of years ahead of their time. But it seems the very few of these were ever built and tested during his life. Though his notes suggest that he wished to organize and publish his ideas, he died before he could accomplish this important goal. After his death, his notebooks were hidden away, scattered, or lost, and his wonderful ideas were forgotten.

Centuries passed before other inventors came up with similar ideas and brought them to practical use.

Click on the pictures of the modern inventions to see how Leonardo envisioned them in his notebooks over 500 years ago.

Here is a modern parachute used in the sport of skydiving. The first reported successful parachute jump was made from the top of a tower in France in 1783.

This is a U.S. Navy helicopter capable of carrying heavy loads. The first helicopter that could carry a person was designed and flown by Paul Cornu in 1907.

This drawing shows a modern army tank. Tanks were first used during World War One in Cambrai, France in 1917.

With its landing gear down, this U.S. Navy plane is ready to take off or land. Once the plane is in the air, the landing gear folds up to give the plane a more efficient, streamlined shape. The first airplane with retractable landing gear was built in 1933.

Modern SCUBA divers can swim freely underwater while breathing compressed air from tanks on their backs. Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Emile Gagnon invented this self-contained breathing apparatus in 1943.