Leonardo da Vinci sketched a parachute as a fabric canopy for controlled descent.
His design appears in the Codex Atlanticus, a large collection of his drawings and notes. It consists of a sealed, pyramid-shaped canopy supported by a wooden frame. Leonardo wrote that a person could leap from a great height while avoiding injury, although the design was never tested in his lifetime.
The sketch is important because it shows Leonardo applying geometry, materials, and observations of air resistance to a practical problem. It was not a modern parachute: today’s parachutes use flexible canopies, suspension lines, and harnesses rather than a rigid pyramid frame.
A common mix-up is calling Leonardo the inventor of the first working parachute. The earliest documented successful parachute descent is generally associated with André-Jacques Garnerin, who made a jump in 1797. Leonardo’s contribution was an early, clearly described parachute concept, centuries before practical aviation.