How to learn a bit more about everything

WEDNESDAY-VISUAL ARTS
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) is universally recognized as one of history’s great creative geniuses. Excelling in a variety of disciplines—painting, sculpture, architecture, music, engineering, and the physical sciences—he is often deemed the quintessential Renaissance man.

Born in 1452 in Vinci, Italy, da Vinci was the illegitimate son of Ser Piero da Vinci. Throughout his life he referred to himself simply as Leonardo; da Vinci means “from Vinci.” He began his artistic career in Florence as an apprentice to the sculptor and painter Verrocchio, for whom he worked from 1470 to 1477.

Da Vinci left Florence in 1481 in order to work for Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan. During his years in Milan, he worked on a variety of projects. He designed fortifications, made models of equestrian statues, and painted The Last Supper. Although he never completed any of the equestrian statues, he did make a full-scale model of one that was later smashed to bits when French troops used it for target practice.

Da Vinci returned to Florence in 1499, where he worked on a number of paintings, most notably the Mona Lisa. Between 1513 and 1516, he resided in Rome, lured there by the papal court. Next he moved to France, where he had been invited to live at the estate of the French king, Francis I, who had just recaptured Milan. He died at the Chateau of Cloux in 1519.

Although da Vinci is most famous for painting the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, he is also known for his voluminous sketchbooks in which he compiled drawings and annotations on a wide range of subjects, from the physics of flight to human anatomy. Among these is even an illustration of a fetus in the womb. Da Vinci must have sketched it from his imagination since dissections of women were forbidden at the time.

Due to his genius and fame, da Vinci has served as a continual inspiration for other artists. His contemporary, Raphael, purportedly used his likeness for the figure of Plato in the famous Vatican fresco, The School of Athens. In more recent times, he has appeared as a character in a wide range of fiction, from the television series Star Trek to the best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code.

Additional Facts
1. In 1999, two full-scale recreations of da Vinci’s model for a huge equestrian statue were erected, one in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the other in Milan.

2. In January 2005, a series of sealed-off rooms were discovered in a monastery next to the church of the Santissima Annunziata in Florence. Some believe that these were the site of Leonardo’s secret workshop.

THURSDAY-SCIENCE
Sleep
It seems strange that human beings evolved to spend about one-third of their lives lying unconscious, completely vulnerable to predators. But sleep is as crucial to our survival as food, water, and shelter. After one night without sleep, we become tired and cranky. After two nights, we suffer from memory loss and diminished concentration. After three nights, delirium sets in. Although a healthy human being can survive without eating for more than a month, humans die without sleep in less than two weeks.

So what is so important about sleep? Although no one is sure, it seems clear that sleep restores our muscles and organs, organizes our thoughts, and builds memories. According to electroencephalograph (EEG) studies that measure the activity of electrical waves in the brain, sleep occurs in stages. Normally when we are awake and not thinking of anything in particular, the brain generates alpha waves that oscillate at about ten cycles per second. When we concentrate deeply, we exhibit beta waves, which are twice as fast.

As we enter the first stage of sleep, the alpha waves become random, their rhythm coming and going. In this stage of light dozing, we can be easily awakened. As time passes, brain waves become longer and slower. After about forty minutes, we generate delta waves that oscillate less than 3.5 times per second. In this stage of deep sleep, the muscles of the body regenerate themselves, and it is very hard to wake up. Brain waves begin to quicken again, climbing back to alpha levels in another forty minutes or so. But instead of waking up, the body enters a stage called rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. The eyes twitch back and forth, as if they are looking at a moving object. It is during this stage of sleep that we dream. The average young adult experiences four or five periods of REM sleep per night.

Additional Facts
1. Depriving a person of REM sleep will quickly lead to delirium.

2. Babies spend more than half the night in REM sleep.

3. Cows can sleep standing up, but they can only dream lying down.

4. Whales and dolphins have to swim and breathe as they sleep, so only one-half of their brains fall asleep at a time.

FRIDAY-MUSIC
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 “Choral”
In 1792, Beethoven began studying with Haydn, and later with Antonio Salieri. Beethoven was a brash, arrogant student, famous in the region for his passionate keyboard improvisations. Many critics say that Beethoven finally became a mature composer when he learned to combine his zeal and love for music with the logic of classical forms.

Beethoven’s strict adherence to classical convention ended in 1810, when he entered a stage of deep despair and alienation brought on by the hardships of his physical health, his loss of hearing, and his loneliness. He performed on piano for the last time in 1814, and after 1819, all conversation with the great composer was conducted through written notes.

It was in this frame of mind, toward the very end of his life, that Beethoven wrote his Symphony No. 9 (1824). An admirable expression of his creative flame, it was written while the composer was completely deaf—a final expression of his love for music and his passionate artistry.

Lasting more than an hour, the four-movement symphony starts with a dramatic opening movement, loosely adhering to the classical formula. That leads into a light, but smoldering scherzo movement (a dance form.) The slow adagio section follows—a long, delicate, barely sane moment of quiet before the storm of the finale.

The final movement of the Choral Symphony is one of the greatest finales of all time and is almost universally recognizable. It is the first time a symphony made use of a full chorus alongside a full orchestra. When that chorus takes up the refrain of the Ode to Joy, an ecstatic hymn to life, the music builds slowly to the movement’s booming, euphoric climax.

Additional Facts
1. The text for the Ode to Joy, which contains the lines, “Joy, bright spark of divinity, Daughter of Elysium / Fire-inspired we tread Thy sanctuary . . .” comes from a 1785 poem by German poet Friedrich Schiller.

2. Legend has it that when Beethoven died, shortly after completing his ninth symphony, there was a rainstorm in Vienna. He was lying unconscious on his bed, and at the moment of a lightning strike, he suddenly sat up, shook his fist at the heavens, and fell back dead.

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