Central framework of Da Vinci's human-powered ornithopter, circa 1485. Da Vinci began to study the flight of birds. He grasped that humans are too heavy, and not strong enough, to fly using wings simply attached to the arms. He conceived of a device in which the aviator lies down on a plank and works two large, membranous wings using hand levers, foot pedals, and a system of pulleys. Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (April 15, 1452 - May 2, 1519) was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer. He has often been described as the archetype of the Renaissance Man ,one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived.