| | Born and raised in Vinci, [[Italy]], Leonardo is famous for his beautiful painting of the [[Mona Lisa]]. But painting was by no means Leonardo’s greatest accomplishment. He imagined hundreds of devices that are still used today and were years ahead of their times, such as a [[bicycle]], a [[submarine]], a self-propelling car, a [[steam engine]], a clock, and machine tools. Leonardo sketched these inventions and hundreds more in special notebooks, where he wrote his notes backwards so they could only be read using a mirror. | | Born and raised in Vinci, [[Italy]], Leonardo is famous for his beautiful painting of the [[Mona Lisa]]. But painting was by no means Leonardo’s greatest accomplishment. He imagined hundreds of devices that are still used today and were years ahead of their times, such as a [[bicycle]], a [[submarine]], a self-propelling car, a [[steam engine]], a clock, and machine tools. Leonardo sketched these inventions and hundreds more in special notebooks, where he wrote his notes backwards so they could only be read using a mirror. |
| − | Leonardo spent much of his adult life in the courts of Florence, Paris, and Rome. He was the first modern person to achieve international acclaim as a "genius." He was also homosexual, though the authorities in Florence and Paris seemed unconcerned. He was an older contemporary of Michelangelo.
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| | Another of Leonardo’s famous ideas could be found his sketches and ideas of “flying machines.” Although at the time the idea of flying in the sky seemed like a fantasy, little did Leonardo know his ideas would, hundred’s of years later, become a reality. | | Another of Leonardo’s famous ideas could be found his sketches and ideas of “flying machines.” Although at the time the idea of flying in the sky seemed like a fantasy, little did Leonardo know his ideas would, hundred’s of years later, become a reality. |