Leonardo da Vinci designed a parachute for a controlled descent from the air.
Leonardo sketched the device in the Codex Atlanticus around 1485. His design used a rigid, pyramid-shaped wooden frame covered with linen cloth. He wrote that a person could jump from a great height while avoiding injury, provided the structure was wide and deep enough.
The sketch did not demonstrate a practical parachute, and Leonardo did not build a surviving example. Modern tests of replicas have shown that the general concept can produce a stable descent, although the original full-scale design would have been extremely heavy compared with modern fabric parachutes.
Leonardo’s parachute is often linked to his broader interest in flight, but it was designed for falling safely rather than for powered ascent. It is also distinct from his winged flying machines, which attempted to imitate the flapping motion of birds.