Leonardo da Vinci sketched a parachute with a conical linen canopy for controlled descent.
His drawing, made around 1485, shows a pyramid-shaped structure supported by wooden poles and covered with linen. Leonardo wrote that a person could jump from a great height while enclosed in the framework and descend safely if the canopy were sufficiently wide and deep.
The sketch is an important early parachute concept, but there is no evidence that Leonardo constructed or tested it. Modern experiments with replicas have examined whether the design could generate enough drag, although the rigid frame would make it unlike most modern parachutes.
Leonardo’s proposal is often confused with a modern round parachute or with later parachute experiments. The key idea was aerodynamic drag: a large canopy resists downward motion and reduces a person’s falling speed.