Leonardo da Vinci sketched a pyramid-shaped parachute in 1485. His design used a rigid wooden frame covered with linen, creating a broad canopy intended to slow a person’s descent from a height.
Leonardo wrote that a person could drop safely if the structure were about 7.2 metres high and 7.2 metres wide. The idea appears in the Codex Atlanticus, a major collection of his notes and drawings.
This was a theoretical design rather than a documented flight test. Its shape differs from modern parachutes, which use flexible fabric canopies and suspension lines. In 2000, British skydiver Adrian Nicholas tested a full-scale reconstruction and reported that it worked, although he used a modern parachute for the final landing.
Leonardo’s sketch is important because it shows him analyzing air resistance and controlled descent centuries before practical parachutes became common.