You have accessJournal of UrologyHistory of Urology1 Apr 20101124 SQUARING THE CIRCLE: PROVING THE DA VINCI CODE Sandra Ndirika and James Green Sandra NdirikaSandra Ndirika More articles by this author and James GreenJames Green More articles by this author View All Author Informationhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.juro.2010.02.2321AboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints ShareFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES The architect Vitruvius, circa 1BC, described the perfect human form in geometrical terms in his treatise De Architectura, which inspired many renaissance artists. Leonardo Da Vinci, in 1490, successfully illustrated the proportions outlined in Vitruvius' work and showed that the ideally proportioned body would fit into both a perfect circle and square. Artists have long held the Vitruvian man's proportions to be correct; however, few studies have proven this. To demonstrate the accuracy of Da Vinci's Vitruvian model for human proportion. METHODS Measurements e.g.height, arm span etc. were taken from 120 men attending the outpatients' clinic at Whipps Cross University Hospital. The ratios of these measurements were compared to the ideal proportions represented by the Vitruvian model. RESULTS All subjects' proportions correlated with 91% of the Vitruvian proportions. No subject fitted 100% of ideal proportions. The greatest deviation from the given ideal was the ratio of the forearm to full height (given as 1/5th). CONCLUSIONS The conundrum of displaying Vitruvian Man has plagued artists for a millenia. Da Vinci was different: he drew a man's body first standing in a square and then with feet and arms outspread in a circle. Da Vinci corrected Vitruvius' measurements based upon his own observations of the human body and showed that these proportions fit into the circle and square by moving the positions of the limbs, showing a shift of ‘centre of magnitude' without a change of ‘centre of gravity': ‘…open the legs so as to reduce the stature by one-fourteenth and open and raise your arms so that…middle fingers touch the line through the top of the head,…the centre of the extremities of the outspread limbs will be the umbilicus…the space between the legs will make an equilateral triangle.' Our measurements show that Da Vinci's proportions were largely correct. The centre of magnitude in men is the root of the penis with the arms outstretched but with the arms raised above the head the centre is the umbilicus. Why is this important? First, in Pythagorean tradition, the circle represents the spiritual realm; the square, material existence, so the human body represents the marriage of matter and spirit, reflected in its proportions. Squaring refers to the human task of giving balance, context, meaning, and understanding to life. Second, Da Vinci demonstrated the importance of geometry, which was believed to govern the universe; God is the divine geometer thus man, God's most perfect creation, is also governed by harmonic proportion. Other exciting and intriguing inferences to be made from Da Vinci's Vitruvian man will be discussed in detail. London, United Kingdom© 2010 by American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 183Issue 4SApril 2010Page: e435 Advertisement Copyright & Permissions© 2010 by American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc.MetricsAuthor Information Sandra Ndirika More articles by this author James Green More articles by this author Expand All Advertisement Advertisement PDF downloadLoading ...