LEONARDO DA VINCI occupies a privileged place in the plethora of the most notable members of our species. The imprint that conferred on his exceptional vital activity did not distinguish borders, thus positioning himself as one of the precursors of interdisciplinary work. He stood out as a painter, poet, musician, engineer, scientist, sculptor and organizer of lavish celebrations for his patrons and employers on duty. He was a student of the flight of birds and he positioned himself centuries ahead in the investigation of the human body.

On May 2 of last year, the Coordination of Humanities of the UNAM began a large program of activities to commemorate the 500th anniversary of his physical disappearance. Among the actions provided was a series of lectures on the life and work of Da Vinci. Specialists from our university participated, as well as invited experts from other latitudes. Having as a seed the contributions presented at that time, the journal INTER DISCIPLINA presents, exactly one year later, a number totally dedicated to Leonardo.

This issue begins with a work by the outstanding Mexican writer and professor Beatriz Espejo. With an abundant trajectory in literary creation and in the work of university education, her contribution is a starting point for the more concrete contributions on the work of Da Vinci that precede her. It is followed by a work on the treatment of shadows in Leonardo’s pictorial craft where some of Florentine genius’s contributions to this subject are exposed and analyzed. A suggestive study follows about one of the most notable cultural icons of our civilization: The Vitrubian Man.

The theory of complex systems is considered an intellectual offspring of the second half of the twentieth century. Driven by the resounding progress of digital computers, which play a similar role to the microscope of Leeuwenhoek and Jensen for biology or the Galileo telescope for astronomy, we have been able through them to observe the fine details of complex phenomena. As is known, many thinkers prior to the second half of the twentieth century, glimpsed in their oeuvres the basic characteristics of complex systems. The next work of this issue discusses how ideas of complexity manifest in Da Vinci’s works. One of the areas of his work where this is observed with great clarity is in his drawings and studies on hydrodynamic turbulence. Complementing this work, the dossier culminates with a contribution from the outstanding Italian researcher D. Iacobone, professor of architecture at the Polytechnic of Milan, about the historiography of water in Leonardo’s work.

It has been worth the delay of a solar cycle. The academic discussion space that was promoted a year ago has germinated in the works presented in this issue that are undoubtedly a worthy tribute to the Florentine genius.