As a center interested in the themes of lifelong learning and design, it is occasionally worthwhile for us to take the "biographical" view of our interests: what is it like for an individual to be both a great learner and designer? Probably no better exemplar ever lived than Leonardo da Vinci, a man who seemed to spend just about every day of his life imagining new objects, ideas, designs, and techniques. This will be an informal talk highlighting some of the aspects of da Vinci's life that might be provocative for researchers today; I'll also spend some time talking about the GEEN 1400 section that Ann Eisenberg and I are currently teaching focusing on the engineering work of da Vinci.