Leonardo da Vinci designed a parachute with a pyramid-shaped canopy.
Around 1485, Leonardo sketched the design in the Codex Atlanticus. His drawing shows a rigid, pyramid-like linen canopy supported by a wooden framework. He proposed that it could slow a person’s descent from a great height.
The design is often described as an early parachute concept, but Leonardo did not build or test it. The familiar modern parachute differs substantially: it normally uses a flexible, curved canopy rather than a rigid pyramid.
In 2000, British adventurer Adrian Nicholas constructed and tested a full-size replica based on Leonardo’s notes. It reportedly worked, although Nicholas used a modern parachute for the final part of the descent because the wooden frame could be hazardous near the ground.