The polymath also devised many vehicles, for land and water, for convenience and military purpose. He designed a heavy tank equipped with cannon and fortified with metal plates. Eight soldiers were supposed to stay inside the turtle-shell-like tank to move it by spinning the gears, which made the cannons mobile and more powerful on the battlefield - considering that during Da Vinci's time, cannon were generally used in stationary positions because they were heavy.

Zhu Dayong, a staff member of the museum who is responsible for the exhibition, says the inventions of Da Vinci epitomized a tireless pursuit of art and science. "He anatomized more than 80 human bodies all his life. I think that partly explained his great accomplishment in drawing - he knows humans to the bones," he says.

Photo provided to China Daily