What name is given to Leonardo da Vinci’s 1485 parachute design?

Leonardo da Vinci’s 1485 parachute design is known as Leonardo’s parachute.

Leonardo drew a pyramid-shaped canopy in the Codex Atlanticus and wrote that a person could jump from a great height while remaining unharmed. His design had a wooden frame supporting linen cloth, creating a rigid canopy unlike the flexible parachutes used today.

For centuries, the sketch was treated as an ingenious but untested idea. In 2000, British skydiver Adrian Nichols constructed a modern replica using the proportions in Leonardo’s drawing and successfully tested it, although he used a modern parachute for the final landing because the replica was difficult to control.

Leonardo did not invent the modern parachute, which developed much later through improvements in flexible canopies, harnesses, suspension lines, and aircraft testing. His design is best understood as an early theoretical parachute rather than a practical Renaissance safety device.