Leonardo da Vinci designed a parachute in 1485 to slow a person’s fall.
His sketch shows a pyramid-shaped canopy supported by a wooden frame. Leonardo reasoned that a person could descend safely if the canopy were sufficiently wide and deep to resist the air. The design appeared in the Codex Atlanticus, where it formed part of his broader studies of flight and falling bodies.
Unlike many of Leonardo’s mechanical ideas, the parachute principle was later tested. In 2000, British skydiver Adrian Nicholas built a full-size replica from modern materials and descended with it successfully, although the replica was not used for a normal jump from high altitude. Swiss skydiver Olivier Vietti-Teppa later made a jump with a replica based on the design.
Leonardo’s parachute was not the modern flexible parachute. Its rigid pyramid frame made it heavier and structurally different from the fabric canopies used today.