Leonardo da Vinci 1452_1519, Italian artist and inventor. Despite having little formal education, Leonardo da Vinci kept extensive notebooks filled with his scientific theories, inventions and architectural designs. Included in this montage are his detailed studies of the movement of a human body, human anatomy, a foetus and a flying machine. Most of his projects were never published nor constructed. After Leonardo磗 death his notes lay unnoticed in a library until 1796.