Ernst Haeckel

When arts and sciences were related disciplines

Erudite artistes from antiquity

The ancient Greeks did not distinguish between philosophy and sciences such as astronomy, mathematics, chemistry, etc. At that time, in the time of Pythagoras or Aristotle, the body of knowledge was quite limited. The rule for a scientist was therefore to be a specialist in several fields. Thales is considered to be the first "philosopher of nature". Known for his mathematical exploits, he was first a trader, engineer and even politician. He therefore perfectly embodies the scholar of Ancient Greece.

Engineer Artists from Renaissance times

The Renaissance (from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century) saw the birth of a movement of deeply optimistic European thought, postulating that man can improve himself through knowledge. It is Humanism. Education is therefore placed at the center of concerns, knowledge remaining inseparable from a certain morality: "Science without conscience is nothing but the ruin of the soul", warns François Rabelais through his hero Gargantua (opposite, cover of "Priceless Life of the Great Gargantua" 1537). The importance given to education is part of a movement of emancipation vis-à-vis the Church: knowing how to read is to be able to understand the Bible and no longer depend on the interpretation of the Bible from the Chruch alone.

Leonardo da Vinci is the figure par excellence of the artist-engineer. Trained in drawing and painting in the studio of the very famous Florentine artist Andrea del Verrochio, Leonardo was interested in a very wide range of fields, all pretexts for the perfection of his art: he then became a biologist, geologist, surveyor, scholar in many other disciplines as well. Creator, Léonard is at the origin of many inventions based on his observation of nature: he thus realizes the sketches of multiple machines, underwater, flying or terrestrial. This creative process combining biology and technique, known toda