Leonardo da Vinci is one of the most iconic figures in the history of the universe. Indeed. The Vitruvian Man, created around 1940, is one of the great mysteries of the history of science and art. Now, it seems that one of the great enigmas of this da Vinci drawing has been solved. According to London dentist Rory Mac Sweeney, the key lies between the figure’s legs, where a rectangle identical to the one used to understand jaw movements and their connection to the skull is drawn.
It represents the Bonwill Triangle, an equilateral triangle that defines the ideal human jaw
Initially, this drawing, which depicts the male human body inscribed within a circle and a square, sought to reflect the ideal proportions of the human body according to mathematical and anatomical principles. According to Rory Mac Sweeney, it represents the Bonwill Triangle, an equilateral triangle that defines the ideal human jaw and is formed by connecting the two points where the lower jaw articulates with the skull and the midpoint between the lower central incisors, with each side measuring 10 cm in length. Indeed, “the space between the figure’s legs will be an equilateral triangle,” as da Vinci himself mentioned in the manuscript notes.
The Vitruvian Man is partly inspired by the writings of Roman architect Vitruvius
Experts are already saying that a British dentist has deciphered the geometric code hidden in the Vitruvian Man. Thus, none other than a dentist has revealed the mathematical secret behind the iconic Renaissance figure using only a compass, a protractor, and a clue forgotten in Leonardo da Vinci’s manuscripts. The news has spread through newsrooms due to the great importance of the creation. The Vitruvian Man is partly inspired by the writings of Roman architect Vitruvius, who argued that the perfect human body should fit inside a circle and a square.
The Bonwill Triangle was created to understand the function of the jaw
It turns out that the Bonwill Triangle, an equilateral triangle described by researcher William Bonwill, was created to understand the function of the jaw and has since served as a basis for the manufacture of dental prostheses, articulators, and occlusion studies. “If you open your legs… and raise your hands enough that your extended fingers touch the line of the top of your head… the space between the legs will be an equilateral triangle,” da Vinci wrote in his notes for the Vitruvian Man.
“Human anatomy has evolved according to geometric principles that govern optimal spatial organization throughout the universe”
Leonardo da Vinci understood the ideal design of the human body several centuries before modern science did, as Bonwill explains in his study published in the Journal of Mathematics and the Arts. According to the calculations, replicating that triangle six times around the navel of the Vitruvian Man forms a hexagonal pattern that reflects a specific ratio between the square and the circle in the drawing: a ratio of 1.64. This value is almost identical to the number 1.633, known as the tetrahedral ratio. Thus, if the tetrahedral ratio is repeated around our bodies, Mac Sweeney thinks it is because “human anatomy has evolved according to geometric principles that govern optimal spatial organization throughout the universe.”
As Sweeney says, “The Vitruvian Man is a testament to Leonardo’s perception that human proportions reflect deeper mathematical principles governing optimal spatial organization.” Leonardo da Vinci was obsessed with the human body and mathematics, and he found a way to explain how numbers and human beings were profoundly related. The universe made sense to him according to mathematics; that is, proportions are not random, there is an explanation for the anatomy of the human body. That’s how he understood it, and that’s how scientists—and dentists—explain it now.
