Leonardo da Vinci’s pyramid-shaped device was a parachute designed to slow a person’s fall.
Leonardo sketched the idea around 1485 in the Codex Atlanticus. His drawing shows a rigid-looking, pyramid-shaped wooden frame covered with tightly stretched linen. The design was about seven metres high and wide, giving it a large surface that could resist air during descent.
Leonardo did not record a successful test, and the device was never built during his lifetime. Its importance lies in showing that he understood the basic principle of drag: a broad canopy can reduce falling speed. Modern parachutes use flexible fabric canopies and suspension lines, so they look very different from Leonardo’s structure.
A full-scale replica was tested by Adrian Nichols in 2000. Nichols descended safely, although he opened a modern parachute near the ground because the replica could not be steered easily.