Leonardo da Vinci designed a parachute with a pyramid-shaped linen canopy for a person to descend safely.
He described the design in the Codex Atlanticus around 1485. His proposed canopy was about 7.2 metres wide and 7.2 metres high, supported by wooden poles. The idea was to create enough air resistance to slow a fall, even though Leonardo did not build or test it.
The design is often called an early parachute, but it was not a modern packable parachute. Its rigid pyramid frame would have made it bulky and difficult to use. In 2000, British adventurer Adrian Nicholas tested a full-scale replica and reported that it worked, although he landed with a modern parachute for safety.
Leonardo’s concept belongs to his wider study of air resistance and flight. It should not be confused with his ornithopter sketches, which attempted to imitate the flapping motion of birds rather than slow a descent.