7 facts about Leonardo da Vinci

1. Born, Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, April 15 1452 in Vinci, Italy.
2. Born out of wedlock to a notary, Piero da Vinci, and a peasant woman, Caterina.
3. At the age of twenty, Leonardo qualified as a master in the Guild of St Luke, the guild of artists and doctors of medicine.
4. His collection of scientific observations and inventions are collected in the Codex Leicester, now owned by Bill Gates.
5. In 1502, Leonardo produced a drawing of a single span 220m bridge as part of a civil engineering project for Ottoman Sultan Beyazid II of Constantinople. Bayazid decided not to pursue the project as it was believed that the construction was impossible.
6. In 2006 the Turkish goverment built the 220m bridge from Leonardo's drawings.
7. Leonardo died at Clos Lucé, on May 2, 1519 from natural causes.