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Leonardo da Vinci is remembered as one of history’s greatest artists and inventors. But his contributions to understanding the atmosphere are far less familiar.

More than 500 years ago, Leonardo was investigating the physical forces responsible for wind, moving water, clouds, and atmospheric moisture—centuries before modern weather forecasting emerged.

His surviving notebooks reveal designs for an early hygrometer that used cotton and wax to detect changes in humidity, a wind-measuring instrument, and remarkable investigations of swirling water and air.

But Leonardo’s meteorological interests went much further.

In the Codex Leicester, he explored evaporation, condensation, the origins of mountain springs, and the movement of water through the natural environment. Other manuscripts preserve observations about wind, cloud movement, fluid vortices, and the physical processes that shape our atmosphere.

What did Leonardo actually discover? Which scientific instruments did he design? How accurate were his explanations? And how do his investigations connect to the science of meteorology today?

This episode of Meteorology Matters examines Leonardo’s scientific work, separating documented achievements from centuries of exaggeration and exploring the connections between his investigations and the later development of atmospheric science.

Presented during Italian American Heritage Month, this installment continues our series recognizing Italian and Italian American figures whose scientific contributions deserve greater attention.

From Renaissance Italy to modern meteorology, discover how Leonardo’s questions about the natural world remain relevant more than five centuries later.

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