Leonardo da Vinci designed an ornithopter, a flying machine intended to rise by flapping wings modeled on bird and bat anatomy.
Leonardo studied the structure and movement of birds extensively. His notebooks contain sketches of wings, wing joints, and mechanical systems that could transmit power to artificial wings. The word ornithopter means a machine that flies by flapping its wings, rather than by using fixed wings or a rotor.
Leonardo’s design was not built into a successful aircraft, and it could not have flown under human power with the materials and technology available in Renaissance Italy. Its importance lies in the way it applied anatomical observation to engineering. Leonardo also explored gliding, parachutes, and rotary-flight concepts, so his flying-machine studies covered several different principles.
A common mix-up is calling every Leonardo flying machine an ornithopter. His famous pyramid-shaped parachute and helical air screw used entirely different methods of flight.