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Leonardo scientific investigation has been less well appreciated. However, he laptops, in particular the discovery of two previously unknown, in Madrid, in 1965, revealed the Italian artists and thinkers, as a man, after their merger in the world of science and art, in order to better understand the mechanics of life now and the possibility of technology.           Leonardo: The Art of Seeing     Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci is well known. Leonardo the scientific investigator has been less well appreciated. Yet his notebooks, particularly the two previously unknown ones found in Madrid in 1965, reveal the Italian artist and thinker as a man who merged the worlds of science and art to better understand the mechanics of life now and the possibilities of technology.   A brief sampling of Leonardo's scientific achievements shows not only his ability to intertwine the disciplines of the arts and sciences but to balance theoretical pursuits and the activity of practical tasks:   — In 1494, while serving as artist and scientist to the court of Lodvico Sforza in Milan (one year before completing the painting The Last Supper), he devised plans to harness the waters of the Arno River.   — As military engineer for Cesare Borgia in 1502-1503, Leonardo explored problems of swamp reclamation.   — While examining mathematical theory in Florence, he studied anatomy at the city's hospital of Santa Maria Nuova.   — During a time of great artistic achievement (his Mona Lisa was created in 1503), he furthered the study of anatomy by analyzing the movements of birds in flight and carrying out a variety of cadaver dissections that culminated in a book of life drawings, Anatomy (1508, unpublished).   — While architect and engineer to French king Louis XII from 1506 to 1513, Leonardo also undertook scientific studies of botany, geology, and hydraulic power.   His other areas of exploration included rock stratification, the making of eyeglass lenses, and inquiries into flying machines. Whether theoretical, artistic, or practical, Leonardo's explorations were experiments in vision. He believed that the key to understanding the world was saper vedere, "to know to see."           — George Ochoa, Melinda Corey, The Timeline Book of Science               Indexes/10