Decoding The Creative Genius Of Leonardo da Vinci

47:26

October 17, 2017

History's most creative genius — Leonardo da Vinci. Walter Isaacson explores the life of the great Renaissance genius of art and science.

A worker hangs replicas of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa at a 2009 exhibition in Medellin, Colombia. (Luis Benavides/AP)

Leonardo da Vinci was the most creative genius in history, says historian Walter Isaacson in a big new biography, and it’s hard not to believe. The man who painted the Mona Lisa was a volcano of inquiry and creativity in anatomy, mechanics, art, optics, music, birds, flying machines, geology, weaponry, the human heart. He reached across disciplines like no one before and few since. Science, art, humanities, technology. This hour, On Point: Walter Isaacson lights up Leonardo da Vinci. --Tom Ashbrook

Guest:

Walter Isaacson, president and CEO of the Aspen Institute. In addition to "Leonardo da Vinci," Isaacson has written biographies of Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin and Henry Kissinger. (@WalterIsaacson)

From Tom's Reading List:

Except of "Leonardo da Vinci," by Walter Isaacson.

This program aired on October 17, 2017.