Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci (A.D. April 15, 1452-May 2, 1519) Italian architect, anatomist, sculptor, engineer, inventor, mathematician, musician, and painter.

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 invented 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.

Another of Leonardo’s famous inventions was 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.