Leonardo da Vinci designed a parachute for a safe descent from a height.
His 1485 Codex Atlanticus sketch shows a pyramid-shaped wooden frame covered with linen. The design was about 7.2 meters high and 7.2 meters wide, giving the canopy a broad surface to resist falling. Leonardo wrote that a person could leap from a great height without injury while using it.
The drawing is an early parachute concept, not a documented working aircraft. Leonardo did not test the device, and the materials and frame would have made it very heavy compared with modern parachutes. In 2000, British adventurer Adrian Nicholas built and tested a full-scale replica, descending successfully before using a modern parachute near the ground.
Leonardo's design is often called the first known engineered parachute concept. It differs from his flying-machine studies because its purpose was controlled descent rather than powered or gliding flight.