Possible self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1512–1515. Wikimedia Commons. Source.
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Leonardo da Vinci is remembered for paintings such as the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, but his notebooks reveal interests extending far beyond art. Born in 1452 in Italy, he studied anatomy, water, flight, mechanics, plants and geometry. He drew designs for machines, investigated how muscles moved and filled pages with observations written in distinctive mirror script. Many proposed devices were never built, and some would not have worked as drawn. His importance lies less in being a magical inventor of modern technology than in his relentless habit of observing, questioning and connecting art with the natural world.
