Leonardo da Vinci described a pyramidal parachute design in a notebook entry dating to about 1485.
His design consisted of a linen canopy supported by a wooden framework. Leonardo proposed that a person could descend safely from a great height beneath the structure, writing that a person could fall without injury if the apparatus were suitably made. The design is commonly illustrated as an inverted pyramid rather than the rounded canopy used by modern parachutes.
Leonardo did not test the parachute, and his proposal remained a theoretical design for centuries. In 2000, British adventurer Adrian Nicholas built and tested a full-scale version based on Leonardo’s notes; it descended successfully, although Nicholas used a modern parachute for the final landing because of safety concerns.
The design is sometimes called the first parachute concept, but it was not a practical, proven parachute in Leonardo’s lifetime. Modern parachutes use flexible canopies and suspension lines rather than a rigid wooden frame.