10 Weirdest Things Famous Actors Did With Their Money
7. Bill Gates - Da Vinci's Journals
Considering he was once the richest man in the world, there aren't that many stories of Bill Gates doing weird stuff with his money.
One of the only noteworthy accounts is the time he bought Leonardo Da Vinci's original journal - called the The Codex Leicester, after the Earl of Leicester who used to own it - for thirty million dollars in 1994. That's roughly around fifty-six million today. Let's hope it at least came with the English translation.
The main topic of the journal is Da Vinci's notes on the movement of water, (how fascinating) but also touches on subjects like astronomy, the moon, and even his fossil theory, hundreds of years before such ideas became commonly accepted.
No word on any Ninja Turtles references though. That would have added real value.
The Codex Leicester has since been translated and put on display in several galleries and museums, but Gates' biggest contribution came when he digitised the entire journal onto a CD ROM for the general public to access in 1997.
Yep, just another example of Bill Gates being a charitable and all round swell guy. Shame about all those conspiracy theories that say he's a secret lizard person who wants to control the world.