Leonardo da Vinci was the true Renaissance man. Not only was he one of the greatest artists ever to live, but he was also a truly gifted architect and creative mind who devised amazing machines centuries ahead of his time. His list of interests and achievements are extraordinary; as well as artist and architect, he was astronomer, researcher, scientist, experimenter, anatomist, and inventor. Leonardo's most acclaimed paintings are the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, Paris and The Last Supper in the refectory at Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan, Italy. But in many ways his greatest legacy are the hundreds of pen and ink drawings and sketches which are now in museums and collections around the world. These explain, in his remarkable mirror writing, his calculations and hypotheses for the mechanical operation of his various ideas. This book attempts to explain who this great genius was and why he became such a creative man. It looks at where he came from and his education, who his influences were, and how he made his way in the world to become the most remarkable man of his time. His work was founded in strict science and based on a profound analysis of ancient and traditional sources, but it was his curiosity which really drove him. His inquisitive mind led him to investigate every field of knowledge and his life's work is an extraordinary synthesis of art, science, and technology fused in theoretical and practical experience gathered from a long and productive life.