Leonardo da Vinci’s diving suit was a wearable underwater apparatus designed to let a diver breathe and work below the surface.
Leonardo described the suit in the early sixteenth century, especially in material associated with the Codex Atlanticus. His concept included a leather garment, a mask, and breathing tubes connected to a floating device at the surface. The arrangement was intended to provide air while protecting the diver from water.
Some accounts connect the design with a proposed military use near Venice, where divers might approach enemy vessels underwater. However, the evidence for a completed, tested suit is lacking. Leonardo’s plan therefore represents an important conceptual step, not a proven working diving system.
The design is sometimes confused with a submarine, but it was worn by a person rather than operated as a self-contained vessel. Modern diving equipment uses compressed gas and regulators, technologies unavailable to Leonardo.