Leonardo da Vinci sketched a pyramid-shaped parachute for safe descent.
The design appears in the Codex Atlanticus, a collection of Leonardo’s technical drawings and notes. He proposed a linen canopy held open by a wooden frame, measuring about 7.2 metres on each side and 7.2 metres high. Leonardo reasoned that a person could descend from a great height without injury using this structure.
The sketch is an early theoretical parachute design, not evidence that Leonardo built or tested one. Its shape differs from modern circular parachutes, which use flexible fabric and suspension lines. In 2000, British adventurer Adrian Nicholas tested a full-scale version made from materials close to Leonardo’s description and reported that it worked, although he used a modern parachute for the final landing.
Leonardo’s proposal is notable because it treats air resistance and controlled descent as engineering problems centuries before practical parachutes became common.