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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Vishwam Sankaran

London dentist discovers hidden detail in Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man

  • A London-based dentist, Rory Mac Sweeney, discovered a hidden equilateral triangle within Leonardo da Vinci's ‘Vitruvian Man’ drawing.
  • This triangle, found between the man's legs, matches Bonwill's triangle, a modern anatomical concept explaining efficient human jaw mechanics.
  • The discovery, published in the Journal of Mathematics and the Arts, suggests da Vinci understood ideal human body design centuries before modern science.
  • The triangle's presence helps create a 1.64 ratio between the square and circle in the artwork, closely mirroring a natural “blueprint number” of 1.633.
  • This finding indicates ‘Vitruvian Man’ is a scientific work demonstrating a universal rule of design, linking human anatomy to the mathematical elegance found in nature.

IN FULL

Dentist cracks centuries-old maths puzzle hidden in famous Leonardo Da Vinci drawing

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