He described the process governing friction before guillaume amontions

Da Vinci's other scientific and technological accomplishments include designing a self propelled cart, which is considered an ancestor of the modern automobile; inventing the miter lock, which is used on thousands of canals around the world; designing a multi-barrel machine gun; being the first to incorporate ball bearings into an aerospace design; and describing the processes governing friction, which predates the introduction of Amontions' Law.

Even though friction is vital to our survival - without it, we wouldn't be able to walk or even crawl – it was only 50 years ago that a distinct term 'tribology' was developed to characterize its study. Professor Ian Hutchings just published a study on Leonardo da Vinci and his Friction studies.

Leonardo da Vinci is credited with conducting the first systematic research of friction over 500 years ago. That much has long been known, but Professor Hutchings has now located the notes and sketches in which Leonardo initially wrote the principles of friction, demonstrating that he used them to solve diverse mechanical difficulties for more than 20 years.