Why isn’t Leonardo Da Vinci remembered as an engineer?
4/28/202632 min
If you judge him by his own elaborate metrics, Leonardo da Vinci was a failure. Long before the Mona Lisa became shorthand for genius, Leonardo imagined himself as something else entirely: a military engineer, a designer of bridges and armoured vehicles, a master of siegecraft and architecture. In 1482, he wrote a breathless letter to Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, itemising these talents with bravado and noting, quickly, that oh, he could paint, too. Many of his boldest designs never left the page, or arrived centuries too early to be built. By his own standards, the future-facing polymath fell short. In this episode, Elizabeth Day and Dan Jones roam through history’s workshops, laboratories, monasteries, and battlefields to ask what failure really looks like. From Leonardo’s unrealised machines to Antonie van Leeuwenhoek’s accidental discovery of microbiology, from champagne’s explosive beginnings to gunpowder’s grim transformation, they trace how curiosity, misjudgement, and wrong turns can quietly reshape the world. What emerges is a gentler, stranger truth: failure is often just invention, waiting for the world to catch up. – As always, Dan’s royal favourites can chime in anytime on the royal court on Patreon at patreon.com/thisishistory. And don’t forget to listen to this season’s accompanying bonus episodes for this miniseries, where Dan and Producer Al are dissecting the biggest historical failures as submitted by the royal favourites. In this episode, they discuss history’s colossal maritime failures, from the White Ship disaster to the Titanic. – A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices –– Presented by Dan Jones and Elizabeth Day Producer - Alan Weedon Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman Researcher - Phoebe Joyce Executive Producer - Simon Poole Executive Producer - Louisa Field Executive Producer - Dan Jones Executive Producer for Daylight Productions - Elizabeth Day Production Manager - Jen Mistri Production Coordinator - Eric Ryan Head of content - Chris Skinner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Clips
Showing 10 of 11Transcript preview
First 90 secondsElizabeth Day· Host0:00
What's the most embarrassing accident that you've ever experienced? Like, basically I'm asking when have you wet yourself?
Dan Jones· Host0:08
[laughs] When was the last time I wet myself?
Elizabeth Day· Host0:11
My theory is that the world splits into two types of people, those that routinely shit themselves and those that don't.
Dan Jones· Host0:17
Oh.
Elizabeth Day· Host0:18
Some people think it's completely standard to shit themselves.
Dan Jones· Host0:20
Yeah.
Elizabeth Day· Host0:21
I'm not one of them personally, but I tell you who is.
Dan Jones· Host0:23
Your ex-boyfriend.
Elizabeth Day· Host0:24
Yes.
Dan Jones· Host0:25
Do you know he- Your friend and mine ... Yeah, well, j- just to protect the, the, the non-innocent, he texted me the other day, he'd just shit himself in Uniqlo.
Elizabeth Day· Host0:32
Shut up. He's still doing it. [laughs] He's still doing it.
Dan Jones· Host0:36
Big Lie is still shitting himself in public.
Elizabeth Day· Host0:38
Uh, but [laughs] And you, he's getting towards the point where shitting himself- But in Uniqlo ...
Dan Jones· Host0:43
in public is going to be, like, just normal 'cause he's old.
Elizabeth Day· Host0:45
That is just so undignified on multiple levels.
Dan Jones· Host0:47
Well, what do you want him to be? Fucking Harrods?
Elizabeth Day· Host0:48
Just not in, not in a shop. Why is he shitting himself? Was he hungover? What, what- I didn't- Do you- You know what?
Dan Jones· Host0:55
It's happened so often, I didn't ask for details.
Elizabeth Day· Host0:57
Well, that's, this is... I'm so glad I opened this rich s- stream of conversation.
Dan Jones· Host1:03
You opened a rich stream all right.
Elizabeth Day· Host1:04
Um- Should we do the show? [laughs] Yes, let's do the show.
Molly Sims1:06
[upbeat music] Hey, guys. This is Molly Sims, host of Lipstick on the Rim. So I have a little bit of a pet peeve that I think you're going to relate to this. I'll be having a great day, feeling good, and someone will say to me, "You look tired." And I'm like, "I promise you, I'm, I'm not really tired." But here's what I've learned. My eyelids, they do sit a little low, and once my doctor explained that to me, it actually kind of made