Leonardo da Vinci designed a parachute with a pyramid-shaped canopy.
He sketched the design around 1485 in the Codex Atlanticus. His notes described a linen canopy supported by wooden poles, intended to let a person descend safely from a height. The design was far larger and more rigid than a modern parachute.
Leonardo did not test the parachute, and historians debate how practical the original structure would have been. In 2000, British adventurer Adrian Nichols built and tested a replica based on Leonardo’s drawing, although he used a modern parachute for the final landing because the wooden frame was difficult to control.
The design is often cited as an early parachute concept, not as the first working parachute. Modern parachutes use flexible fabric, suspension lines, and controllable canopies rather than Leonardo’s framed pyramid.