Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci (15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519) was an Italian Renaissance genius. He was good at many things, but was most famous as a painter. He was also a scientist, a mathematician, an engineer, an inventor, an anatomist, a sculptor, an architect, a botanist, a musician and a writer. Leonardo was curious about everything in nature. He wanted to know how everything worked. He was very good at studying, designing and making all sorts of interesting things.
Many people think that Leonardo was one of the greatest painters of all time. Many people think that he was the most talented person ever to have lived. The art historian Helen Gardner said that no-one has ever been quite like him because he was interested in so many things that he seems to have had the mind of a giant, and yet what he was like as a person is still a mystery.
Leonardo was born at Vinci which is a small town near Florence, in Italy. He was trained to be an artist by the sculptor and painter Verrocchio. He spent most of his life working for rich Italian noblemen. In his last years, he lived in a beautiful home given to him by the King of France.
Leonardo could do all sorts of clever things, but he was most famous as a painter. Two of his pictures are among the best-known paintings in the world: the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. He did many drawings. The best-known drawing is The Vitruvian Man. Leonardo was always thinking of new inventions. Most of his inventions were never made. However, we know his ideas, because he kept notebooks. He wrote and drew in them very often. Some of the ideas that he thought of were a helicopter, a tank, a calculator, a parachute, a robot and solar power.

Martin Luther

Martin Luther (10 November 1483 in Eisleben - 18 February 1546 in Eisleben) was a German monk and theologian of Christianity. He is credited with starting the Protestant Reformation. As this happened, what are now called Protestant churches split from the Roman Catholic church. He started the Lutheran Church, the first church of Protestantism.

Thomas Aquinas

St. Thomas Aquinas, (1225 – 7 March 1274) was a Catholic Dominican priest from Italy, and is considered one of the principal Catholic saints. He was born in Roccasecca, as the son of Count Andulf of Aquino and Countess Theodora of Teano.
He studied philosophy and theology. His early education was received at the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino, and attended the University of Naples, where he earned the nickname "dumb ox" for his slow demeanor, even though he was a very talented student of rhetoric, logic, and natural science. By 1240, he became captivated to religious life and decided to become a friar with the new Dominican order. When he tried to become a friar and propose his oath, his family captured him and brought him back, because to become a Dominican, one must eliminate material wealth, and his parents were expecting for him to follow in his uncle’s footsteps and become a Benedictine abbot. They kept him in a castle for in an effort to change his mind. However, when they released him two years later, he immediately joined the Dominicans.
He was the theologian who came up with the Cosmological Argument. Catholics think Aquinas is the best teacher for one who wants to become a priest. His most famous books are Summa Theologica and the Summa Contra Gentiles. Aquinas is one of the 33 Doctors of the Church. Many schools are named after him including the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas and the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum).
Aquinas is also known for his work with Natural law, the belief that there are 'natural laws' that can be derived from nature by the reason of human beings. Aquinas took an optimistic view of human nature, believing that it is human nature to do good and not evil.

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas

Socrates

Socrates (469 BC – 399 BC) was one of the greatest Greek philosophers. His work was not to propose any specific knowledge or policy: it was to show how argument, debate, and discussion could help men to understand difficult issues. Most of the issues he dealt with were only political on the surface. Underneath, they were moral questions about how life should be lived. Such is the influence of Socrates that philosophers before him are called the Presocratic philosophers.
Socrates made enemies, three of whom brought charges against him. Socrates was tried for his life in 399 BC, found guilty, and put to death by drinking hemlock (a herbal poison). The story of his trial and death is the subject of a tract by Plato which is called the Apologia.
Most of what we know about Socrates comes from the works of Plato, who was his pupil. Socrates lived in the Greek city of Athens. His method of teaching was to have a dialogue with individual students. They would propose some point of view, and Socrates would question them, asking what they meant. He would pretend "I don't know anything; I'm just trying to understand what it is you are saying", or words to that effect. This is now called the Socratic method of teaching.
Socrates is sometimes called the "father of Western philosophy". This is because in the discussions he uncovered some of the most basic questions in philosophy, questions which are still discussed today. Also some of the people he taught were important and successful, like Plato and Alcibiades.

Socrates' death is described at the end of Plato's Phaedo. Socrates turned down Crito's pleas to attempt an escape from prison. After drinking the poison, he was instructed to walk around until his legs felt numb. After he lay down, the man who administered the poison pinched his foot; Socrates could no longer feel his legs. The numbness slowly crept up his body until it reached his heart. Shortly before his death, Socrates speaks his last words to Crito: "Crito, we owe a rooster to Asclepius. Please, don't forget to pay the debt."

Socrates did not fear death. He did not try to avoid death by apologizing for his actions because he thought it was morally right to stand by his principles. Socrates was ordered to drink a cup of hemlock (a poisonous liquid got from the plant). He drank it and died soon after.

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates

FMP

This year for our FMP (Final Major Project) we will be performing Godspell, a musical by Stephen Schwartz and based on a book by John-Micheal Tebelah.
(please note; this blog is not my full logbook, my hand written logbook also accompanies this one)