Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519),an Italia Renaissance artist,nature scientist,engineer and the founder of mechanics theory,made the impressive contributions to the forming of classical hydraulics and fluid mechanics.
Da Vinci's philosophy idea is near to materialism.He thought that everything in the world must obey the objective nature rules,knowledge came from sentience and it was important to do theory generalization.He emphasized that mathematics and mechanics were the basis of nature science.He also had many great fancies and discoveries on military affairs,water-conservancy,civil engineering and mechanical engineering
Da Vinci's mechanics research work was not only theoretic.He also designed lots of machines and appliances with the principles of mechanics and mechanical engineering.He took part in the design and construction of canals,water conservancy and architectural engineering.Based on the study of bird wings motion,he schemed out an aircraft in 1493 for the first time.
Da Vinci had quite a lot of rare manuscripts on hydraulics,which was published as Water Motion and Survey after he died.