Leonardo da Vinci designed a pyramidal parachute in a sketch dated 1485.
His drawing shows a rigid, pyramid-shaped frame covered with linen cloth. Leonardo wrote that a person could jump from a great height while enclosed in a structure about seven metres high and wide, with the cloth intended to slow the descent.
The design was not tested during Leonardo’s lifetime. Its frame would have been heavy by modern standards, and the sketch does not provide the complete harness and deployment system used by modern parachutes.
The parachute is sometimes described as an invention Leonardo built, but the evidence supports a design rather than a completed device. In 2000, British skydiver Adrian Nichols constructed and tested a replica based on Leonardo’s drawing. The experiment showed that the basic form could descend, although Nichols used a modified structure for safety.