We just learned about Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Atlanticus.
Another one of Leonardo da Vinci's famous books of inventions is the Codex Arundel, written around 1500 AD.
While da Vinci was working on his art, he also took a lot of notes about how the world works.
He was learning about how weights and pulleys worked, how mirrors worked, and even had ideas about the sun and moon.
One of his ideas was to use a curved mirror to take sunlight and use the solar power it to heat up cauldrons.
His book Codex Atlanticus is 283 pages of his writings about how things work.
(from: wikipedia - codex arundel)
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