 Through the centuries, Italy has fostered the scientific community that produced many major discoveries in physics and the other sciences.During the Renaissance Italian polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), Michelangelo (1475–1564) and Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472) made important contributions to a variety of fields, including biology, architecture, and engineering.Galileo Galilei (1564–1642), a physicist, mathematician and astronomer, played a major role in the Scientific Revolution.