Leonardo da Vinci designed a parachute with a pyramidal linen canopy for a controlled descent.
He recorded the concept around 1485 in the Codex Atlanticus. His drawing shows a rigid wooden frame supporting a large cloth canopy, unlike the flexible parachutes used today. Leonardo reasoned that the canopy would create enough air resistance to slow a person falling from a height.
The design was not tested in Leonardo’s lifetime, and it was not intended to launch a person into flight. It was a proposed descent device, making it different from his gliders and other flying-machine studies.
Modern experiments have shown that a full-scale version based on the sketch can descend successfully, although the rigid frame creates safety concerns. Leonardo’s design is therefore best understood as an early theoretical parachute rather than a practical, deployable modern parachute.