TAMPA, Fla. - While many equate the name Leonardo da Vinci to the art world, his impact on the world of innovation may be more valuable to the current world.
"Leonardo da Vinci was really the original innovator. He was STEAM before STEAM was a thing, so science, technology, engineering, arts, and math," MOSI President & CEO John Graydon Smith explained.
What we know:
MOSI's exhibition "Machines in Motion" highlights da Vinci's creativity as a designer, engineer and inventor. It features 20 machines that Italian engineers have created using his designs and similar materials from the 1400s.
"I think what's most interesting for kids and their adults is the simplicity of some of these machines," Graydon Smith said. "You know, he invented ball bearings. We use ball bearings for all kinds of things."
In addition, da Vinci also designed the olive oil press, printing press and many wartime weapons.
"Some of those inventions have been improved upon and mechanized over the intervening several hundred years, but a lot of the concepts are still the same," Graydon Smith said. "When you think even about flight, he was envisioning the fixed-winged aircraft hundreds of years before we really got to that."
What they're saying:
Graydon Smith encourages both children and their parents to interact with many of the machines.
"When you look at these, you can really see what he was seeing with his eyes in the 1400s and how they now have come to life in his time and in our time, I think it's hopefully an inspiration for everybody to kind of use their inner creativity to come up with some inventions of their own," Graydon Smith said.
What's next:
"Machines in Motion" is a temporary exhibit that will be on display until May 3.
The Source: Information in this story comes from interviews done by FOX 13 photojournalist, Barry Wong.