Explorit Science Center's 1999 Membership Drive drew to a successful conclusion last Friday, with the final tally of new and renewing memberships coming to 210.

The end of the Membership Drive was marked by the Science Adventure Drawing; many area residents came away with a prize in addition to the intangible but priceless knowledge that they are supporting science education in our community.

Sheila Allen and Mitch Cutter, Richard Morrissey, Pierre Stephans and Lisa Nalbone, Dawn Student, and the Weiss-Bunch family all won family packs of laser tag at Laserforce

Other winners include Harry Laidlaw (gift certificate at the Little Prague Bohemian Restaurant), Cathy Neuhauser and Jack Holmes (a virtual Olympic bobsled ride at UC Davis), Ann Holte and Ray Tabor (haircuts at David's Haircutting), Allan and Susan McKillop ("Parks Sampler" membership in the California State Parks), Judy and Don Adcock (3 month membership at 24-Hour Fitness), Devi Eden and George Simons (sailing party for two on the San Francisco Bay), Charles Nash (gift certificate at the Next Chapter), Alan and Madeline Brattesani (a half-case of unusual and foreign wine), and Dale and Leah Matheson (Astra color scanner).

The Grand Prize (a Lake Berryesa Cruise and dinner for 12-15) was won by Jerry and Teresa Kaneko.

Explorit would like to extend a heart-felt thanks to everybody (donors and members alike) who made the Membership Drive and Science Adventure Drawing a success.

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Explorit's current exhibition is "Inventors and Inventions Through the Centuries". What with inventions from the wheel to the zipper, it's a full and exciting exhibition.

There is one inventor, if you can categorize him at all, who deserves some extra attention. Leonardo da Vinci, the quintessential Renaissance man, was born in 1452, one year before the birth of Christopher Colombus.

Da Vinci said "The natural desire of good men is knowledge," which is quite a sound statement for an inventor to live by. His natural curiosity was reflected in his notebooks, astounding in both scope and volume. A good example of this is the famous 402 page notebook called Codice Atlantico, which is located in Milan, Italy. Throughout Europe, over 5,700 pages of his work are preserved as a testament to his extremely broad interests and expertise in many fields.

Da Vinci was the son of a Florentine notary and had little formal education. He learned just enough Latin to teach himself to read the books available at that time. Though he studied some mathematics as a boy, he didn't really have a gift for it.

He did, however, understand the importance of the process of mathematics and showed intuitive understanding of basic principless of science. He followed precise rules when testing his ideas and used methods for drawing conclusions that are still used today. For this reason it is often said that da Vinci was the "first modern scientist".

Although he is most famous as an inventor and artist, da Vinci was also an architect, a city planning engineer, a physiologist, and the first aviation scientist. Even this is just a partial list of his interests.

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Explorit Science Center is located at 3141 5th Street in East Davis. The current exhibition is Inventors and Inventions Through the Centuries. Public hours are Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Sunday from 1:00 to 4:30 p.m., and Tuesday through Friday from 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. Regular admission is $3; members, teachers (with school ID) and children under 4 are free.