Shadowing Practice: Leonardo da Vinci’s GENIUS Inventions - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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You are attending a festival in Milan.
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You are attending a festival in Milan.
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The year is 1495.
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In front of you, you see a knight sitting on a chair.
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Suddenly, he stands up, raises his arm and waves at you.
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Then he opens his visor.
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To your surprise, there's no human inside.
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It's virtually a robot, more than 400 years before the first humanoid robot was made. But how?
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Behind the invention was none other than Leonardo da Vinci.
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And in this video, we take a closer look at his most incredible inventions,
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and ask the question, would they actually work in real life?
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We'll see how he envisioned the first ever diving suit,
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a military tank, and of course,
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how he made the mechanical knight.
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But first, let's take a look at how Leonardo imagined humans could fly.
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Leonardo was really fascinated by the idea of flight,
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and even though it took hundreds of years after Leonardo's death for humans to finally achieve it,
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he was surprisingly close in the late 15th century.
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Take this design as an example.
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It's essentially an early version of the helicopter.
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It consisted of a linen sail arranged around a wooden mast,
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resembling a giant screw.
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He also added four bars to be able to rotate the mast.
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By turning it, Leonardo believed the screw would push against the air in the same way a screw drives into wood,
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creating lift and allowing the machine to rise into the sky.
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As with most of his inventions,
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Leonardo never built the aerial screw,
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but his vision for it would be something like this.
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Leonardo would have four people standing on a central platform,
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operating the machine to create enough rotation to finally achieve lift.
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Some people believe Leonardo made the aerial screw to actually make humans fly,
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while others claim that it was designed for theatrical purposes only.
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However, experts agree on one thing,
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Leonardo's helicopter would not have been able to take off.
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But in 2019, at the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci's death,
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scientists at the University of Maryland set out with one goal,
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make Leonardo's design work for actual flight.
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The experiment included detailed descriptions of the changes needed to make Leonardo's helicopter actually take off.
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Instead of one rotary propeller,
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they redesigned it to have four propellers.
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This would make the aircraft more balanced and easier to control.
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With a few other modifications to the aerial screw itself,
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and switching out manpower for an electric engine,
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they made a real-life miniature of the machine.
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It was a drone, using Leonardo's theory to hopefully achieve lift-off.
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But would it work?
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The drone lifted into the air.
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Leonardo's vision was finally flying,
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500 years after his death.
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With Leonardo's original design, he would likely never be able to fly,
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but with this next invention, he actually might have.
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And one person even took it to the ultimate test.
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But first, let me tell you about the browser I've been using for a while now,
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and why you might want to try Opera as well.
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During my research on Leonardo's inventions, I used split-screen.
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It makes browsing and writing at the same time super easy.
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I just dragged one tab next to another to enable it.
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That way I can research on one side while writing on the other.
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And thanks to the video pop-out feature,
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I can detach the videos I watch,
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so it can follow me around even outside of the browser.
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It's perfect for watching tutorials or documentaries while working.
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Opera also has tab islands,
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which let me group related tabs together.
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This is helpful when doing research because it lets me keep relevant sources in multiple islands.
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And when I need more space, I can collapse them.
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It's by far the cleanest browsing experience for deep research.
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It's also quick and easy to customize the browser,
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making Opera personal and fun to use.
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I love using the Mirage theme when writing darker stories,
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and Midsummer when I'm in a creative mood.
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If you want to try opera,
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use the link in the description.
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Now let's get back to Leonardo's next invention.
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For ages, humans have dreamt of defying gravity.
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Some have been successful, like André-Jacques Garnarin,
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the Frenchman who performed the first ever successful parachute jump in 1797.
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Others were not so successful,
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like Franz Reichelt, who tried to show off his homemade flying suit by jumping from the Eiffel Tower in 1912.
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The results?
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Well, let's say I can't show it here on YouTube.
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But more than 400 years before that,
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Leonardo da Vinci designed what's believed to be one of the first concepts of a parachute ever to be made.
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The design was nothing like the modern parachutes we know today.
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Leonardo imagined a square frame made from solid wood.
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Around it, he wrapped a sealed linen cloth,
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making sure the only opening would be at the bottom, towards the frame.
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In the air, the cloth would be filled with air,
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making a pyramid shape, hopefully capable of slowing the descent.
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Leonardo wrote in his notes,
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If a man has a tent made of linen,
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of which the openings have all been stopped up,
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and it would be twelve braccia across and twelve in depth,
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he will be able to throw himself down from any great height without suffering any injury.
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The parachute's simple shape and heavy weight made many experts doubt its ability to fly,
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but British skydiver Adrian Nicholas believed the 500-year-old design could work and he was going to put it to the test.
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Instead of using modern, lighter materials,
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Nicholas insisted on using materials true to the time.
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Ignoring warnings that it would never work,
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he built the wooden frame and mounted the linen and ropes,
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all based on Leonardo's sketch from 1485.
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The total weight was now 84 kilograms,
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around 10 times the weight of a modern parachute.
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The experiment was controversial, but Nicolas believed in Leonardo.
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In fact, he was willing to risk his life that it would work.
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Secured to the bottom of the parachute,
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Nicolas was lifted 10,000 feet into the air by a hot air balloon.
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Now it was the moment of truth.
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Leonardo da Vinci's idea work?
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The balloon descended to fill the parachute with air.
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Then they released Nicholas.
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Mr. Da Vinci, maybe you were right!
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Luckily it worked.
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Nicholas was enjoying the view for about five minutes before he had to disengage the parachute.
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Due to the heavy wooden frame,
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it was safer for Nicholas to land using modern equipment.
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When interviewed about the stunt,
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Nicholas said, "...it took one of the greatest minds who ever lived to design it,
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but it took 500 years to find a man with a brain small enough to actually go and fly it."
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Leonardo was obsessed with humans experiencing the skies,
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but he also imagined how we could explore life underwater.
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First, let's take a closer look at his vision of warfare on land in the 15th century.
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Leonardo didn't really care much for wealth and money,
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but he still needed funding for his ideas.
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When he left Florence and moved to Milan in 1492,
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he was looking for a stable yet prestigious job.
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That's when he pitched his skills to the Duke of Milan in a now famous job application letter.
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After writing in detail about his ideas on warfare,
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he wrote, almost as a footnote,
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that he could also paint better than anyone else.
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He got the job, and between 1492 and 1499,
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Leonardo made several designs for advanced war equipment.
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The problem, however, was that his inventions were so advanced they would never be realized in his lifetime.
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Let's start off with one of his most futuristic visions, the military tank.
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Leonardo da Vinci's tank was designed for eight people, stationed across two floors.
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The roof was specifically designed to be sloped at a 30 degree angle,
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a strategic choice to make it more likely for enemy attacks to bounce off the armor.
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In his drawings, the tank was armed with heavyweight cannons all around.
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Underneath the tank, four wheels would help the vehicle move.
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The wheels were powered by gears and connected to a handle,
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allowing the crew inside to operate the vehicle.
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However, the drawing included a critical error.
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Leonardo's design of the gears would result in the wheels turning in opposite directions,
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effectively making the tank unable to move.
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The mistake would have been easy to fix for an experienced engineer like Leonardo,
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but this error has experts divided.
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His notebook included far more complicated gear construction than this one.
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That's why some experts think he intentionally added mistakes to his designs to protect them from misuse.
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Others argue that it might just have been a result of his mirrored writing,
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or a casual error that he didn't care to correct.
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Either way, with the weight of the cannons,
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Leonardo's tank was too heavy to be powered by humans alone,
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and it was never constructed or used in real combat.
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But this next invention would have been much more plausible and potentially deadly to its opponents.
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The year is 1490.
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You're a soldier standing in the battlefield,
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ready to fight for your life.
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In the distance, over a hill,
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you hear a loud creaking noise.
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Gradually, a dark silhouette is getting more and more visible over the horizon.
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You can't figure out what it is, but it's huge.
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It turns out your opponent has brought with them a giant crossbow,
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measuring an incredible 24 meters in width and 22 meters in length.
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They aim the frightening weapon at you and fire.
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The crossbow was designed to be horrifying to the enemy.
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Mounted on six wheels, it allegedly had to be operated by over a dozen people.
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But again, Leonardo's vision would never come to life.
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The military most likely deemed the weapon too expensive and too high maintenance to actually construct.
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But if ever created, it would arguably serve its main purpose,
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to be incredibly intimidating and a show of force.
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Moving on from the battles on land to the battles at sea,
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let's take a look at how Leonardo designed the first diving suit.
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After France's seizure of Milan in 1499,
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Leonardo saw no other option than to look for work elsewhere.
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Venice was a rich city nearby,
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under threat by the Turkish.
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Leonardo saw this as an opportunity to make a living by designing different types of military equipment for the Venetian army.
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In a meeting with the Council of Venice,
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Leonardo suggested to create an underwater army.
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To support this army, Leonardo designed the first diving suit in history.
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He argued that the city would not stand a chance against the Turkish on land,
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and proposed a solution to sink their ships while they were still at sea.
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The design featured a full-body waterproof leather suit.
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For the diver to be able to stay underwater for longer periods of time,
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Leonardo suggested an oversized snorkel.
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On the surface, a container made of cork would provide the diver with fresh oxygen.
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The cork was designed with two tubes,
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one for fresh air and one for used air.
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In 2002, Scott Cassel and Jackie Cozens set out to recreate the diving suit on mission by the BBC.
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And to their surprise, it actually worked.
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The diver was able to walk along the seabed while still getting fresh air from above.
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But just like the wheels of the military tank,
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it's believed Leonardo intentionally left small mistakes in the design.
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By moving the ventilation on the cork,
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the design would not only work as a simple snorkel,
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but also as an oxygen tank.
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With the ventilation further down,
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the container would create an air chamber.
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This would allow the diver to pull the cork down under the surface,
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fully hiding from enemy forces.
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The experiment showed that Leonardo's diving suit wasn't just theoretical.
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It could function, and in theory,
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it might have given Venice the world's first underwater soldiers.
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But how would the soldiers sabotage enemy forces underwater?
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Well one suggestion was to use an underwater drill.
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Leonardo designed a drilling device that could sink ships by drilling a hole into a vessel's planking below the waterline.
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Just imagine the faces of the Venetian council when Leonardo presented his vision for an underwater army.
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Moving on from Leonardo's military designs,
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we find a collection of incredible inventions using gears and wires.
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Through his paintings, Leonardo is famous for his advanced understanding of anatomy.
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He was able to paint the human body in ways few others could at the time.
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But his knowledge of anatomy did not only benefit his art,
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he also made incredible creations for theatres and events.
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With the use of gears,
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Leonardo da Vinci created almost life-like movements in his designs.
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But Leonardo understood that gears could do so much more than just imitate birds.
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That brings us back to the Mechanical Knight from 1495.
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In the middle of the ceremony,
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the mysterious knight has just revealed that it is not a human.
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Inside the helmet is only gears and wires,
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but Leonardo's mechanical knight could do more than just open its helmet.
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The knight was able to stand up,
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move his arms, turn his head and sit back down again.
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Some sources also claim the knight may have produced an automated drum roll.
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Unlike most of Leonardo's other sketches,
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the mechanical knight was likely built and demonstrated at a ceremony in 1495.
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The secret was in its construction.
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Leonardo's knight was built from wood,
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leather and metal and powered by a clever system of pulleys and cables.
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Movements of different limbs were linked together.
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When one arm moved up,
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the other moved down, creating a human-like behavior.
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But what inspired Leonardo to create the mechanical knight?
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The answer is quite sinister.
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A dark evening in Florence,
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Leonardo's assistant arrives carrying something heavy.
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With him, he has a body,
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most likely a diseased criminal.
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With occasional permission from the church,
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Leonardo would start to study human cadavers.
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And not only on the outside,
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he dissected the people, carefully taking note of every little detail he could find about the human body.
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Few people would ever want to work in the dissection rooms of this era.
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there was no way to preserve the bodies,
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which meant they began to rot within 48 hours.
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But the dissections gave Leonardo important knowledge.
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Some sources suggest that Leonardo's study on human anatomy inspired him to design the first mechanical machines.
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To figure out how he could recreate motion using levers and pulleys,
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Leonardo would compare human skeletons side by side with mechanical designs.
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By comparing bones to levers and muscles to pulleys,
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Leonardo created detailed drawings of a mechanical knight,
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a mechanical bird, and even a mechanical lion.
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By understanding the muscles and how the body was put together,
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he could create machines that gave an illusion of life.
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The mechanical knight has been reconstructed in 2002 for a BBC documentary.
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Robotic expert Mark Rocheim argued that Leonardo's robot could have been fully automated by using water and gravity,
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making the knight even more impressive.
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And according to the documentary,
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Leonardo da Vinci's mechanical knight directly inspired robotics used in NASA's space stations.
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If you found this video interesting,
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I think you'll love my video about the advanced tech of the Roman Empire.
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About This Lesson
In this lesson, you will practice your English speaking and listening skills by exploring the fascinating inventions of Leonardo da Vinci. You will delve into the concepts of flight, robotics, and early engineering through a detailed narrative that highlights da Vinci's visionary ideas and their historical significance. By the end of this lesson, you will be able to discuss key innovations, express your opinions on their feasibility, and engage in conversations about historical figures' contributions to science and technology.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Invention: The act of creating something new that didn't exist before.
- Humanoid: Something that has a human-like appearance.
- Mechanical: Relating to machines or machinery.
- Flight: The act or process of flying through the air.
- Experiment: A test conducted to demonstrate a known truth or investigate a hypothesis.
- Design: A plan or drawing made to show the look and function of an object before it is built.
- Lifting technique: Methods used to raise an object off the ground.
- Theatrical purposes: Intended for performance or entertainment rather than practical use.
Practice Tips
To enhance your speaking skills while practicing this English lesson, consider using techniques such as shadowspeak or the shadowing app. Here are some effective tips:
- Listen to the video at a slower speed initially to familiarize yourself with the vocabulary and sentence structure. Then, gradually increase the speed as you become more comfortable.
- While listening, repeat phrases out loud in real-time, trying to match the pronunciation and intonation of the speaker. This is where shadow speech becomes incredibly beneficial.
- Focus on specific segments of the transcript that interest you, and practice those repeatedly. This can help solidify your understanding and pronunciation of complex terms.
- Take breaks between shadowspeaks to evaluate your performance. Record yourself and compare it to the original audio to identify areas for improvement.
- Engage in discussions about the historical context of da Vinci’s inventions with other learners. Sharing insights can drastically improve your fluency and ability to articulate your thoughts.
Remember, consistency is key. Make practicing a part of your daily routine, and leverage the insights gained from this lesson to broaden your understanding of English vocabulary related to inventions and science.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.
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