Leonardo da Vinci’s design for a fabric canopy intended to slow a person’s fall was a parachute.
Leonardo sketched the design around 1485 in the Codex Atlanticus. It consists of a pyramid-shaped framework covered with linen, with the intended purpose of allowing a person to descend safely from a height. Unlike modern parachutes, it has no compact canopy that opens after deployment; the rigid frame was meant to keep the cloth spread.
The design is often described as an early parachute concept, not as a tested working parachute. Leonardo did not record a full-scale trial, and the materials and construction details would have made the structure heavy. In 2000, British adventurer Adrian Nichols built and tested a replica based on the drawing, reporting that it descended successfully, although he used a modern parachute for safety.
Leonardo’s idea belongs to a wider group of Renaissance studies of controlled flight. His notes also examined birds, gliding, and air resistance, but his parachute sketch is distinct from his proposed flapping-wing machines.