Leonardo da Vinci improved an anemometer with a hinged plate that showed wind force.
An anemometer measures wind speed or wind pressure. Leonardo’s design used a vertical board or plate that moved in the wind, with a graduated scale allowing the observer to estimate the wind’s strength. The hinged plate made the device responsive to airflow while limiting its movement in a measurable way.
Leonardo’s instrument was intended for studying air movement, especially in connection with flight. It was not the same as the cup anemometer widely used today, whose rotating cups turn at a speed related to wind velocity. Leonardo’s work belongs to a broader body of Renaissance investigations into air, birds, wings, and atmospheric motion.