ABOUT DR. RORY Mac Sweeney
Dentist. Anatomist. Geometric detective.
Biography
Dr. Rory Mac Sweeney is a London-based dental surgeon and former European champion in sport karate. His unique perspective—combining clinical precision, competitive movement mastery, and geometric analysis—has led to one of the most significant reinterpretations of Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man in recent years.
As a black belt practitioner, Rory developed an intuitive understanding of optimal body mechanics—how form, balance, and force distribution determine efficient movement. This kinesthetic knowledge, combined with his training in craniofacial anatomy, positioned him to recognize something others missed: Leonardo’s drawing encodes the precise geometric relationships governing optimal human structure.
His 2025 publication in the Journal of Mathematics and the Arts demonstrates how Vitruvian Man embodies the tetrahedral ratio √(8/3) ≈ 1.633—the same mathematical constant that appears in optimal jaw architecture, hexagonal crystal structures, and Fuller’s tensegrity systems. Leonardo’s construction, Rory shows, could be achieved using only compass and straightedge, guided by the hexagonal patterns Leonardo systematically studied in his Codex Atlanticus.
By connecting Renaissance geometry, biological optimization, and the physics of movement, Rory’s work reveals that Leonardo wasn’t depicting ideal proportions—he was documenting geometric necessity.
Academic & Clinical Foundations
- Doctor of Dental Surgery, London
- Research in craniofacial geometry and proportional systems
- Contributor to interdisciplinary dialogue between art history, mathematics, and biological form
Public Recognition
“The Dentist Who Solved the Vitruvian Man Mystery” — The Independent
“Mac Sweeney’s 1.633 ratio is an elegant structural solution bridging art and anatomy.” — Oral Health Group
The Vision
For over five centuries, Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man has inspired artists and scientists alike. There has been much speculation as to the meaning of the drawing…
My research suggests Leonardo’s drawing ideal human proportions reveals a hidden structure of balance—what modern geometry calls the Vector Equilibrium, the perfect state where all forces are equal and in harmony.
The Geometry of Balance
The Vector Equilibrium
In this structure, every edge, radius, and angle is equal.
It represents total balance—the zero point between motion and rest.
Nature builds from this state: atoms, crystals, and even living forms follow its geometry.
The Flower of Life
Leonardo sketched this pattern in his notebooks.
Six circles surrounding a seventh form a perfect hexagon, the blueprint for the Vector Equilibrium in two dimensions.
It is the same symmetry seen in snowflakes, honeycombs, and the seeds of a sunflower.
Leonardo’s Geometry
Leonardo left a simple clue on Vitruvian Man:
“the space between the legs will be an equilateral triangle.”
That triangle generates the hexagonal symmetry behind the circle.
The square defines orthogonal symmetry, the geometry of architecture.
Where the triangle’s logic meets the square’s order, a universal proportion appears—the geometry of balance itself.
The Human Connection
The same geometric ratio appears within human anatomy.
The arcs of the skull, the curve of the bite, and the mechanics of the jaw all express this same equilibrium.
Leonardo’s geometry wasn’t artistic ornament—it mirrors the structure of life itself.
A Universal Pattern
From Leonardo’s drawings
→ to Fuller’s Vector Equilibrium
→ to the atomic lattice of matter—
the same pattern repeats across scales.
Geometry, art, anatomy, and physics are all speaking one language: equilibrium.
Explore the Work
Leonardo’s Complementary Ratios (2025) – Journal of Mathematics and the Arts
Vitruvian Man: A Modern Anatomical Analysis (2025)
Lecture Series: The Geometry of Balance — London 2026