Leonardo da Vinci sketched a pyramid-shaped parachute as a device for descending safely from a height.
His design appears in the Codex Atlanticus and uses a rigid wooden frame covered with cloth. Leonardo reasoned that the broad canopy would resist the air and slow a person's fall. The sketch is usually dated to around 1485, centuries before practical parachutes were built.
The design is often described as an invention, but Leonardo did not construct and test a working parachute. In 2000, Adrian Nicholas made a full-size modern reproduction and reported that it descended successfully, although he used a modern parachute for the final landing because the replica was difficult to steer.
Leonardo's proposal is not the same as his studies of winged flight: a parachute is designed to fall slowly, while a glider or ornithopter is intended to generate forward flight.