Filippo Brunelleschi

Filippo di ser Brunellesco di Lippo Lapi was born in 1377, trained as a goldsmith and sculptor before architecture pulled him in. In 1421 he became the first person in the Western world to receive a patent. The dome of the Florence Cathedral remains his most famous work, but he also developed the mathematical technique of linear perspective - a system for depicting space that governed painting until the late 19th century and nudged the rise of modern science. His output ranged across architecture, sculpture, mathematics, engineering, and ship design. He died on 15 April 1446, leaving most of his surviving works in Florence and a claim as a founding father of Renaissance architecture.