The scientists of today: revisiting Leonardo in a global environment.

Historically, scientists have come from all kinds of backgrounds, and beliefs. In all cultures and civilizations, from the early tribal times until today, scientists have occupied prominent or, at the very least, notorious positions within their communities. One could argue that scientists are as diverse as the innumerable “philosopher-scientists” in ancient Greece, to the alchemists from the Medieval ages, to the co-existing collaborating Jewish, Moorish, and Christian scientists from the “Golden Age” in Spain, and the incredibly productive inventors and scientists from the Italian Renaissance. A common thread that unites scientists of all times is their curiosity and quest for knowledge. By and large, this breed of human beings is tenacious, inquisitive, imaginative, and inventive. There is no doubt that scientists have been and are the cornerstones of human progress. Throughout history, scientists have been instrumental in contributing to the advancement of human society by either discovering or understanding basic scientific dogmas, and by inventing new methods or instruments. Certain periods have been more productive than others with respect to the impact of scientific progress. For instance, take the Renaissance, perhaps one of the most productive and amazing periods with regard not only to science but also to the arts, the humanities, and society. Fantastic scientists and engineers roamed the lands and made such key discoveries as Galileo’s concept of inertia, establishment of modern astronomy, and implementing the scientific method. My favorite scientist of the time though has to be the incomparable Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo embodied the spirit of the Renaissance at its fullest; he was the type of man who one day would invent a helicopter and another day would describe a type of surgery, while taking minimal time off from science to paint such icons as the “Last Supper” and “La Gioconda”. Leonardo was a man of broad scientific interests, which he demonstrated continuously by lecturing and writing about his different discoveries. He was a truly multidisciplinary scientist working across disciplines. For example, Leonardo, commissioned by Cesare Borgia, designed the clever and beautiful canal harbor of Cesenatico in the Adriatic Sea in 1502, a feat of engineering problem-solving and aesthetic beauty. Another interesting aspect of Leonardo is that in a sense he kept reinventing himself by periodically focusing his interests on different issues. In doing so, he was able to maintain the admiration of the Florentine society, and more importantly have the Duque di Medici as his benefactor during most of his life. It has taken us three centuries to embrace the concept of diversity in science. The 19th and the early 20th Centuries brought times of high specialization in science, and little diversity. The belief at the time was that unless a scientist was highly specialized he/she would not be able to make progress in a meaningful manner. The consequence is that we had a very split scientific community with chemists, physicists, biologists, engineers, and physicians, for example, working in their own corners and never crossing the street to converse with each other. Even within chemistry, there was sort of a “snobbish” sentiment that would result in little interaction between members of the traditional disciplines, namely, analytical, physical, organic, and inorganic chemistry. Despite this division, we cannot forget that the 20th Century had a myriad of incredible scientists who were able to think beyond a traditional discipline and discovered milestone after milestone. For example, the curiosity of Linus Pauling (Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1954 and Nobel Peace Prize in 1962) allowed him to venture away from his first training in chemical engineering to physical/inorganic Anal Bioanal Chem (2009) 393:1–3 DOI 10.1007/s00216-008-2462-5