Leonardo da Vinci sketched a parachute as an emergency descent device.
His design appears in the Codex Atlanticus and consists of a pyramid-shaped, cloth-covered wooden frame. Leonardo wrote that a person could leap from a great height while enclosed beneath the structure and land safely, assuming the device was properly made.
The sketch is not evidence that Leonardo built or tested a working parachute. It is a theoretical design from the Renaissance, centuries before practical parachutes became common. Its broad canopy principle resembles the way later parachutes increase air resistance.
Leonardo’s design is often confused with his studies of flying machines. A parachute descends rather than generates powered flight, while his bird-inspired flying studies addressed the possibility of sustained movement through the air.