Microsoft Vista launched

In January 2007 Bill Gates came to the Library for the launch of Microsoft’s new Vista software. The launch was symbolised to the world’s press when he joined our Chief Executive onstage to signal the virtual reunification of his Leonardo notebook, Codex Leicester, with our own, Codex Arundel, as Turning the Pages™ digital facsimiles.

This was the first opportunity for people to view these great manuscripts of Renaissance science together since they left Leonardo’s workshop. The result was a surge of interest on our website, videos on YouTube and comments such as ‘Turning the Pages is the reason why every household should have a computer!’