Leonardo da Vinci sketched a parachute in 1485 as a safety device for descending through the air.
His design used a rigid, pyramid-shaped wooden frame covered with linen cloth. Leonardo calculated that the structure would provide enough resistance to slow a person’s fall, although he did not record a tested flight. The concept appeared in the Codex Atlanticus.
Leonardo’s parachute was not the first practical parachute, because it remained a design rather than a demonstrated working machine. In 2000, British skydiver Adrian Nicholas built and tested a replica based on the sketch; the replica descended successfully, though Nicholas used a modern parachute for the final part of the landing.
The design is often confused with Leonardo’s later flying-machine studies. A parachute is intended to descend safely, whereas a glider or ornithopter is intended to produce forward flight or lift.