Leonardo da Vinci sketched a parachute as a cone-shaped canopy for a person descending from a height.
In a manuscript passage usually dated to around 1485, Leonardo described a linen-covered wooden frame shaped like a pyramid. He stated that a person could jump from a great height while protected by the structure. The design relies on air resistance: the broad canopy slows the descent by pushing against the air.
Leonardo did not test the parachute, and the materials and dimensions in the description would make it extremely heavy by modern standards. A successful modern reconstruction was associated with Adrian Nicholas, who tested a version in 2000; the experiment showed that the basic aerodynamic idea could work, although the reconstructed device was not used for landing at ground level.
The design is an early parachute concept, not a modern round canopy or steerable ram-air parachute. Leonardo’s proposal is notable because it identified the essential relationship between a large drag-producing surface and a controlled descent.