Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, known as Leonardo da Vinci, was an Italian polymath of the Renaissance whose areas of interest included invention, painting, architecture, music, engineering, anatomy, astronomy, botany and cartography. He has been variously called the father of palaeontology and architecture, is considered one of the greatest painters of all time. Born out of wedlock to a notary, Piero da Vinci, a peasant woman, Caterina, in Vinci, in the region of Florence, Leonardo was educated in the studio of the renowned Italian painter Andrea del Verrocchio. Much of his earlier working life was spent in the service of Ludovico il Moro in Milan, he worked in Rome and Venice, he spent his last three years in France, where he died in 1519. Leonardo is renowned as a painter; the Mona Lisa is the most famous of his works and the most popular portrait made. The Last Supper is the most reproduced religious painting of all time and his Vitruvian Man drawing is regarded as a cultural icon as well.

Salvator Mundi was sold for a world record $450.3 million at a Christie's auction in New York, 15 November 2017, the highest price paid for a work of art. Leonardo's paintings and preparatory drawings—together with his notebooks, which contain sketches, scientific diagrams, his thoughts on the nature of painting—compose a contribution to generations of artists rivalled only by that of his contemporary Michelangelo. Although he had no formal academic training, many historians and scholars regard Leonardo as the prime exemplar of the "Universal Genius" or "Renaissance Man", an individual of "unquenchable curiosity" and "feverishly inventive imagination." He is considered one of the most diversely talented individuals to have lived. According to art historian Helen Gardner, the scope and depth of his interests were without precedent in recorded history, "his mind and personality seem to us superhuman, while the man himself mysterious and remote." Scholars interpret his view of the world as being based in logic, though the empirical methods he used were unorthodox for his time.

Leonardo is revered for his technological ingenuity. He conceptualized flying machines, a type of armoured fighting vehicle, concentrated solar power, an adding machine, the double hull. Few of his designs were constructed or feasible during his lifetime, as the modern scientific approaches to metallurgy and engineering were only in their infancy during the Renaissance; some of his smaller inventions, entered the world of manufacturing unheralded, such as an automated bobbin winder and a machine for testing the tensile strength of wire. He is sometimes credited with the inventions of the parachute and tank, he made substantial discoveries in anatomy, civil engineering, geology and hydrodynamics, but he did not publish his findings and they had little to no direct influence on subsequent science. Leonardo was born out of wedlock to notary Piero da Vinci and a peasant woman named Caterina in Vinci in the region of Florence, he was educated in the studio of Florentine painter Andrea del Verrocchio.

Much of his earlier working life was spent in the service of Ludovico il Moro in Milan. He worked in Rome and Venice, he spent his last years in France at the home awarded to him by Francis I. Leonardo was born on 14/15 April 1452 in the Tuscan hill town of Vinci, in the lower valley of the Arno river in the territory of the Medici-ruled Republic of Florence, he was the out-of-wedlock son of Messer Piero Fruosino di Antonio da Vinci, a wealthy Florentine legal notary, a peasant named Caterina, identified as Caterina Buti del Vacca and more as Caterina di Meo Lippi by historian Martin Kemp. There have been many theories regarding Leonardo's mother's identity, including that she was a slave of foreign origin or an impoverished local youth. Leonardo had no surname in the modern sense—da Vinci meaning "of Vinci", his father had married a 16-year-old girl named Albiera Amadori, who loved Leonardo but died young in 1465 without children. In 1468, when Leonardo was 16, his father married again to 20-year-old Francesca Lanfredini, who died without children.

Piero's legitimate heirs were born from his third wife Margherita di Guglielmo, who gave birth to six children, his fourth and final wife, Lucrezia Cortigiani, who bore him another six heirs. In all, Leonardo had 12 half-siblings, who were much younger than he was and with whom he had little contact. Leonardo received an informal education in Latin and mathematics. In life, Leonardo recorded few distinct childhood incidents. One was of a kite opening his mouth with its tail; the second occurred while he was exploring in the mountains: he discovered a cave and was both terrified that some great monster might lurk there and driven by curiosity to find out what was inside. He seems to have remembered some of his childhood observations of water and crossing out the name of his hometown in one of his notebooks on the formation of rivers. Leonardo's early

Florence Roberts was an American actress of the stage and in motion pictures. Born in Frederick, she began acting on the stage in New York, New York, at the age of 19, her career began at the New York Opera House in Hoop of Gold. She secured her first stage role with the Denman Thompson Company and played leads with the N. B. Curtis Company; this experience led to appearances on Broadway. She once starred in a production of David Belasco, she headed a stock company in Philadelphia, for a period of fifteen years. The actress made three world tours in stock. There was a tour of Australia with the Henry Duffy players, she played in stock companies in Boston and other cities. Roberts' success in motion pictures began with a Mack Sennett comedy; the film producer cast her in Grandma's Girl. Her earliest roles were in A Wife's Suspicion and A Wise Dummy, both in 1917. Among her film performances, the Jones Family series is the most renowned, she played the role of Grandma. Florence was married to actor Walter Gale.

They had Robert Gale, who lived in Philadelphia. Florence Roberts died from cardiovascular disease at the age of 79 at her home in Hollywood, California, she was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, with funeral services performed at Wee Kirk of the Heather. Her eulogy was read by Edward Everett Horton, with whom she appeared in stock; the actress' death came unexpectedly. She had only returned from a vacation trip to Panama, she went there following completion of the Jones Family series of 20th Century Fox for the 1939–1940 season. She is not to be confused with stage actress Florence Roberts; the Los Angeles Times, Famed Film Actress Dies, June 7, 1940, Page A1. The New York Times, Florence Roberts, Screen Actress, 79, June 7, 1940, Page 28. Works by or about Florence Roberts at Internet Archive Florence Roberts on IMDb Florence Roberts at the Internet Broadway Database Florence Roberts at Find a Grave Brief article with color photo

Judd Buchanan, is a Canadian former politician and businessman. After a career in the life insurance industry working for London Life, born in Edmonton, was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1968 election as the Liberal Member of Parliament for London West, he served as a Parliamentary Secretary in the early 1970s, first to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, to the Finance Minister. He was appointed to the Cabinet by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in 1974 as Minister of Indian Affairs. In 1976, he was moved to the position of Minister of Public Works, served concurrently as Minister of State for Science and Technology. In 1978, he left these files to become President of the Treasury Board until the defeat of the Trudeau government in the 1979 election; when the Liberals returned to power in the 1980 election, Buchanan was not returned to Cabinet and he resigned his seat in the House of Commons in August 1980 to return to the private sector. Following his political career, Buchanan entered the tourism industry, leading Silver Star Mountain Resorts Ltd.

In 1995, he helped create the Canadian Tourism Commission which works with government to promote Canada as a tourist destination. He served as its chairman until his retirement in 2002. In 2000, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. Judd Buchanan – Parliament of Canada biography