Last weekend’s assignment was to learn something new about a little known invention, and with our #FridayFact we learned that Leonardo Da Vinci is considered to have been the first person to create a résumé.

Da Vinci’s résumé took the form of a letter written around 1481–1482 to Ludovico Sforza. At the time Sforza was the leader of Milan and Da Vinci knew he was looking for military engineers. With help from a professional writer Da Vinci crafted a letter that listed out his engineering talents. The résumé worked and he was hired. A decade later Sforza commissioned Da Vinci to paint The Last Supper.

Other notable inventions by Leonardo Da Vinci include parachutes, diving suits, armored tanks, and much more. Many of Da Vinci’s inventions/concepts never left the page and had to be re-invented later, such as the concept for the helicopter and ball bearings.

The theme for this weekend is Currency.

Currency began evolving as soon as human tribes thousands of years ago began to trade. Animals, and trade goods themselves, were used as currency, then came precious metals, and eventually paper notes.

Your Weekend Assignment, if you choose to accept it, is to learn something new around the theme of currency.

Here are possible avenues you could explore:

  • Unique forms of currency
  • Currency and it’s role in starting or ending conflicts
  • Designing currency
  • Trading currency
  • Spend some of your time this weekend and learn something new, and don’t forget to have fun.

    Start the discussion at discourse.saylor.org