Leonardo da Vinci sketched an anemometer, a device for measuring wind force or speed.
His design used a vertical board that could move or indicate how strongly the wind pushed it. By observing the movement against a graduated scale, a user could estimate the wind’s strength. The instrument was part of Leonardo’s wider study of air, flight, weather, and fluid motion.
Leonardo’s anemometer was not the same as the modern cup anemometer, which uses rotating cups to measure wind speed. It was an early wind-force indicator based on pressure or deflection rather than the standardized instruments used by meteorologists today.
The name comes from the Greek word for wind. Leonardo’s contribution is important because it connected careful measurement with his investigations of flying machines, even though the sketch did not create a modern weather station instrument.