Leonardo da Vinci designed a diving suit with a mask, breathing tubes, and a leather suit for underwater work.
The concept appears in his studies from the early sixteenth century and was associated with a proposal for underwater military operations. The diver would wear a leather garment, use a mask over the face, and breathe through tubes connected to floating air chambers or a surface-supported system.
The design is often described as an early diving suit, but it was not a modern self-contained scuba system. Leonardo did not provide a practical compressed-air cylinder, and breathing underwater would have depended on the proposed air arrangement. The suit also lacked modern pressure regulation and buoyancy control.
Leonardo’s drawings show his interest in applying anatomy, materials, and fluid mechanics to military engineering. Centuries later, diving equipment developed through helmets, air pumps, compressed gas, and purpose-built underwater suits.