Claim: Leonardo da Vinci was an inventor.

Leonardo da Vinci -LRB- 1452 -- 1519 -RRB- was an Italian polymath , regarded as the epitome of the `` Renaissance Man '' , displaying skills in numerous diverse areas of study . Whilst most famous for his paintings such as the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper , Leonardo is also renowned in the fields of civil engineering , chemistry , geology , geometry , hydrodynamics , mathematics , mechanical engineering , optics , physics , pyrotechnics , and zoology .   While the full extent of his scientific studies has only become recognized in the last 150 years , he was , during his lifetime , employed for his engineering and skill of invention . Many of his designs , such as the movable dikes to protect Venice from invasion , proved too costly or impractical . Some of his smaller inventions entered the world of manufacturing unheralded . As an engineer , Leonardo conceived ideas vastly ahead of his own time , conceptually inventing an improved version of the helicopter , an armoured fighting vehicle , the use of concentrated solar power , a calculator , a rudimentary theory of plate tectonics and the double hull . In practice , he greatly advanced the state of knowledge in the fields of anatomy , astronomy , civil engineering , optics , and the study of water -LRB- hydrodynamics -RRB- .   Leonardo 's most famous drawing , the Vitruvian Man , is a study of the proportions of the human body , linking art and science in a single work that has come to represent Renaissance Humanism .