Leonardo da Vinci sketched a parachute for a person to descend safely from a height.
His design, recorded in the Codex Atlanticus around 1485, used a pyramid-shaped wooden frame covered with linen cloth. Leonardo calculated that the canopy would provide enough drag to slow a falling person, although he did not document a test flight.
The design is often called an early parachute concept rather than a modern parachute. Modern parachutes use flexible canopies and suspension lines, while Leonardo’s proposal depended on a rigid frame. In 2000, British adventurer Adrian Nicholas built and tested a full-size reconstruction based on the sketch; it descended successfully, though he used a modern parachute for safety near the ground.
Leonardo’s idea was not the first practical parachute, but it was an unusually clear aerodynamic proposal centuries before parachutes became operational.