GENESIS SECTION

literally, “moves by itself”. When was it first created? Who invented it? There is no simple answer. The internal combustion engine was first tried out in the late nineteenth century, in various parts of the world, by brilliant scientists who often knew nothing of what their colleagues were doing. It was really the combination and application of a series of historic inventions such as the steering wheel, suspension systems, differential gears, universal joints and brakes that led to the birth of the automobile. Without these inventions, which are illustrated on the four monitors, the car would never have come into existence. Man has always tried to free himself from animal movement and for many long centuries dreamt and thought up the most diverse and ingenious methods to move quickly and freely. This is why in this sort of universal library we find pedal, sail, wind, steam, gas and petrol vehicles and even electric roller skates. This section pays tribute to all those who invented an auto-mobile before the automobile was invented. The first is the Italian genius of the Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci, a reconstruction of whose spring-operated vehicle, from a folio of the Codex Atlanticus, is shown here