To-Do Lists Written by Da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks are rife with illustrations of anatomy, physiology, inventions, and engineering sketches that show his observations and preoccupations on the subjects. But apart from those, he also wrote lists of things he needed to do, just like everyone else.

These to-do lists however, are not mere ordinary daily tasks life we often do. Many of them are larger in scope such as measuring the duke's palace and its courtyard, as well as measuring and drawing the city of Milan and its suburbs. Some of the notes he wrote actually showed the inquisitive mind of the artist.

In the note translated by NPR, da Vinci writes about asking certain professors and masters about their craft such as squaring a triangle, measuring the sun, and repairing a lock.

Even his more mundane to-do lists were quirky in their own way. He reminded himself to bring a bone saw, a scalpel, and some chalk on one occasion when he was going to dissect corpses. In that same note, he wrote that he must get a hold of a skull and nutmeg, as well as measuring the corpse using its finger as a unit. This and others on Flashbak.

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