Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci was the ultimate Renaissance multitasker, a man who could paint the "Mona Lisa" while designing a helicopter and probably whipping up a decent risotto. An illegitimate child with little formal schooling, he was a notorious procrastinator who left many projects unfinished. This ambidextrous, vegetarian artist loved animals so much he would reportedly buy caged birds just to set them free. Rumors, of course, are more fun. Whispers from the past suggest he was a flamboyant dresser who favored pink, a man who backed out of testing his own flying machine because the "light wasn't right," and that his early artwork was so brilliant it made his master quit painting forever. Genius, it seems, comes with some great stories.