Leonardo da Vinci’s 1485 parachute design specified a pyramid shape.
His notebook sketch shows a rigid wooden frame supporting linen cloth arranged as a pyramid. Leonardo estimated that a person could descend safely from a great height with a structure about 7.2 metres high and 7.2 metres wide at the base. The design was theoretical rather than a tested device, and it appeared centuries before practical parachutes became available.
The drawing is often called Leonardo’s parachute, although it differs greatly from modern fabric canopies. A modern parachute inflates into a curved canopy and uses suspension lines, while Leonardo’s design depended on a large framed surface. In 2000, British skydiver Adrian Nichols built and tested a full-scale reconstruction. It descended successfully, though Nichols used a modern backup parachute because the wooden frame made the device dangerous to land with. Leonardo’s proposal is important as an early attempt to reason scientifically about controlled human descent.