Leonardo da Vinci sketched a parachute with a pyramid-shaped canopy as an escape device from high places.
His design appears in the Codex Atlanticus and consists of a rigid, pyramid-like frame covered with cloth. Leonardo proposed a canopy about seven metres wide and seven metres high, large enough to slow a person’s fall by creating air resistance. The design is one of the clearest examples of his applying observation and geometry to a practical problem.
Leonardo did not record a test of the parachute, and no evidence shows that he built one. In 2000, British adventurer Adrian Nicholas constructed a version using Leonardo’s stated proportions and successfully tested it, although he used a modern backup parachute for safety.
The sketch predates modern parachuting by several centuries, but it was not an inflatable balloon or a powered aircraft.