Leonardo da Vinci¿s pioneering scientific work was virtually unknown during his lifetime. Leonardo was in many ways the un-acknowledged ¿father of modern science. ¿ Drawing on an examination of over 6,000 pages of Leonardo¿s surviving Notebooks, Capra explains that Leonardo approached scientific knowledge with the eyes of an artist. Through his studies of living and non-living forms, from architecture and human anatomy to the turbulence of water and the growth patterns of grasses, he pioneered the empirical, systematic approach to the observation of nature -- what is now known as the scientific method. ¿A fresh and important portrait of a colossal figure in the world of science and the arts. ¿ Includes 50 beautiful sepia-toned illustrations.