Leonardo da Vinci designed a pyramidal parachute in 1485 as a device for descending safely from great heights.
His design used a rigid, pyramid-like wooden frame covered with linen cloth. Leonardo estimated that a person could jump from a height of about 7,000 metres without injury, although he did not build or test the device himself.
The design appears in Leonardo’s notebooks, where he explored how air resistance could slow a falling body. The concept was not a practical parachute in the modern sense because its large frame would have been difficult to carry and control.
Modern experiments have tested full-scale versions of the design. In 2000, British skydiver Adrian Nicholas used a replica made from modern materials and successfully descended with it, though he used a conventional parachute near the ground for safety. Leonardo’s parachute therefore represents an early theoretical solution, not the first operational parachute.