Life and WorksWho is Leonardo Da Vinci?Leonardo had a keen eye and a quick mind that led him to make important scientific discoveries, yet he never published his ideas. He was a gentle vegetarian who loved animals and despised war, yet he worked as a military engineer to invent advanced and deadly weapons. He was one of the greatest painters of the Italian Renaissance, but he left only a handful of completed paintings. It may seem unusual to include Leonardo da Vinci in a list of paleontologists and evolutionary biologists. Leonardo was and is best known as an artist, creator of masterpieces such as the Mona Lisa, Madonna of the Rocks and the Last Supper. Yet Leonardo was much more than a great artist: he had one of the best scientific minds of his time. He made scrupulous observations and carried out research in fields ranging from architecture and civil engineering to astronomy, from anatomy and zoology to geography, geology and paleontology. In the words of his biographer Giorgio Vasari: The most heavenly gifts seem to pour upon certain human beings. Sometimes supernaturally, wonderfully, they all come together into one individual. . . . This was seen and recognized by all men in the case of Leonardo da Vinci, who had. . . an indescribable grace in every effortless act and action. His talent was so rare that he mastered any subject to which he directed his attention. . . . He could have been a scientist if he hadn't been so versatile. Leonardo's scientist...