Leonardo Da Vinci, The Renaissance Man Who May Have Been The Smartest Person In History
North Wind Picture Archives / Alamy Stock PhotoLeonardo da Vinci was a painter, sculptor, engineer, scientist, architect, and inventor, making him the original “Renaissance man.”
Although Goethe may have been a Renaissance man of his era, Leonardo da Vinci was quite literally the original Renaissance man, the ideal that would come to define the term for centuries after his death. Da Vinci is often cited as one of the most intelligent and multi-talented individuals in history, excelling in multiple disciplines, including art, science, engineering, anatomy, and invention.
Even if his contributions were limited to the arts, Leonardo da Vinci’s name would appear in history books thanks to great works like The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa. He was an innovative, skillful painter who showed an exemplary mastery of light, shadow, and perspective that revolutionized painting and influenced generations of artists after him.
But Leonardo da Vinci was far more than a painter. As one of the most intelligent people in the world, he is just as famous for his ideas — which he meticulously documented in a series of notebooks — that showed a profound understanding of human anatomy and conceptualizations of various machines and devices ahead of their time. Among these theoretical inventions were early prototypes of helicopters, tanks, parachutes, and even a rudimentary version of a robot.
Of course, many of da Vinci’s ideas rarely went further than a concept or blueprint, but the fact that he was able to envision technologies that would not exist for hundreds of years after his time shows how great his mind truly was.
