Leonardo da Vinci gave his proposed parachute a pyramid shape.
In a notebook sketch from around 1485, Leonardo described a canopy made from linen, supported by a framework of poles. His idea was that the large fabric surface would slow a person’s descent by resisting the air. The design was not a parachute in the modern, compact sense, but it expressed the essential principle of aerodynamic drag.
Leonardo’s written description is commonly summarized as a rigid pyramid-shaped parachute. He did not demonstrate it publicly, and the design’s original materials and frame would have made it heavy compared with a modern parachute. A modern reconstruction was tested in 2000 by Adrian Nichols, who descended successfully with a replica before using a conventional parachute at low altitude.
The design is sometimes called the first known parachute concept, but it was not the first practical parachute. That distinction belongs to much later devices developed with lighter materials and tested under controlled conditions.