Around 1450, an Italian polymath created a device to understand local wind force and weather patterns for designing safe buildings and gave the world its first mechanical anemometer: How did Leon Battista Alberti's invention worked?

Around 1450, Leon Battista Alberti developed the first known mechanical anemometer, using a swinging plate to measure wind force. The device connected wind pressure with the movement of a physical object. Alberti’s work linked mathematics, architecture and observation. His idea became part of the history of wind measurement and influenced later mechanical anemometers.