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During his lifetime Leonardo did encourage some to privilege observation and experiment over the teachings of the Church and the Classics, which was critical in the later phase of the Renaissance. Leonardo helped to change the intellectual environment of the Renaissance to one that was much more modern in outlook.

[[File: Leonardo 4.jpg|200px|thumb|left| Anatomical drawings by Leonardo from his Notebook]]

Leonardo was also an inventor and his notebooks are filled with many plans or drafts for inventions. Da Vinci drafted plans for a flying machine, diving suit, parachute, anemometer, armored car, self-propelled car, and even a robotic knight. Leonardo was one of the most prolific inventors in history. None of his inventions were ever developed into practical and working machines. They remained only designs on paper, even though there were ground-breaking ideas.<ref> Gibbs-Smith, Charles Harvard, and Gareth Rees. The inventions of Leonardo da Vinci. Phaidon Press, 1978, p 17</ref>