Leonardo, a poor boy living in Rome in 1235, describes visiting a new museum and being fascinated by the paintings of Leonardo Da Vinci and the writings of Thomas More. He later learns about the scientific discoveries of Galileo and Hans Lippershey. Living in a small house with his family, Leonardo dreams of becoming a Renaissance man and making new discoveries through drawing inventions. He concludes that Leonardo Da Vinci's work has had the greatest impact on changing society through his innovations.

1. ENTRY 1
My name is Leonardo. I was born in Rome in July 1235. I
was a poor boy in a poor family of six. I have long hair and
a straight nose. I normally wear a shirt which is torn and
shorts which reach my knees. I always wear a pair of
slippers because I could never used to afford shoes. My
father works as a shopkeeper at the local store and my
mother is a housewife. Some days I help my father out at
the store but normally I just wonder around the town. I
have two brothers and a sister.

2. As I was walking through the town, I saw everybody
crowding up at the entrance of the new museum. I never
knew what was inside that was so great to attract so many
people. So I went inside ones the people got cleared up and
the good thing is that the first five days we did not have to
pay to get in the museum. As I went in side, I saw so many
beautiful drawings and paintings around the whole building.
There were many sections such as the literature section and
art section. There were these few paintings from Leonardo Da
Vinci, maybe that’s where I got my name from. I decided to
talk about Leonardo Da Vinci.

3. Leonardo Da Vinci was a very famous painter, his paintings
were all very realistic and beautiful. Leonardo Da Vinci was
very famous for the painting Mona Lisa. In the other section
of the museum there were poems and short stories written by
many famous people. I personally want to tell you about
Thomas More. He wrote the book Utopia, which means no
where according to him. The book was about this place that
only consist of 1000 people, living peacefully and safely.

4. Today I wanted to share something that I heard about from
some friends of mine. I heard about a man named Galileo.
Galileo is from Italy and was born on 15 February 1564 and he
has discovered the earth is not the planet that is in the center
of the universe. The planet that is in the center of the
universe is the Sun. I think that Galileo’s discovery is true
because the earth is not the biggest planet among all the
planets.

5. I also have heard about another scientist named Hans
Lippershey, he has invented the telescope. He lived
during the 1570’s and comes from Wesel, a small town in
West Germany. His invention has really changed the way
we see life now, because now we can see things which are
really far away by using the telescope. I like this
invention because many people has changed our ways of
thinking with Hans Lippershey invention and without
the telescope Galileo could not have made his research
about the earth.

6. I live in a town of five people in a house. The house
that I live in is a very small house which is made out of
cement. My family and I could not afford to live in a big
house because we are poor. Over the last years I have
seen many people become educated and knowledgeable
about the world. I am also trying to live the life of a
Renaissance man. I am trying to make something that
nobody would think of doing. When I am at my dad’s
shop I would take out a piece of paper and draw a sketch
of something. I will always try as hard as I can.

7. Today is the end of the year, and 1551 will begin tomorrow. I
am amazed at how much our world has changed over my
lifetime with new discoveries and the work of so many
people. Our world has changed with Humanism, Art and
Literature, Science, Exploration. I believe that there is
especially one individuals discovery that has changed our
society the most. This is Leonardo Da Vinci. I think that this
is the important individual because of his discovery for the
changes we have experienced because he invented many
things. I think that the discoveries by this individual will
change the future world because the ways of thinking will be
different and the motivation will be stronger.