Leonardo da Vinci

No person has come to represent the ideal of the multifaceted Renaissance Man more than Italian Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519). In an era filled with men and women of extraordinary accomplishments in many fields, his list of achievements leaves all the others far behind. He was a painter, sculptor, musician, ornithologist, anatomist, meteorologist, architect, mathematician, engineer, inventor, and more. His most famous paintings include the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper, while his numerous inventions include the bicycle, pedometer, magnifying glass, alarm clock, gas mask, life preserver, and submarine. So dedicated was he to the study of anatomy, both for the advancement of science and for his art studies, that he was banished from Rome by the pope for refusing to stop dissecting cadavers.

Although self-described as illiterate, he filled many notebooks with his writings about nature, science...