Leonardo da Vinci sketched a pyramid-shaped parachute as a proposed rescue device.
The design appears in the Codex Atlanticus, where Leonardo described a framework covered with linen. He estimated that a structure about 7.2 metres wide and 7.2 metres high could allow a person to descend safely from a great height. The design has no modern harness, suspension lines, or compact canopy, but its broad fabric surface was intended to create air resistance.
Leonardo was studying controlled human flight at a time when powered aircraft did not exist. His parachute concept is often cited as an early systematic parachute design, although it was never tested during his lifetime. In 2000, British adventurer Adrian Nicholas tested a full-size reconstruction and reported that it descended successfully, though he used a modern parachute for the final landing because the rigid structure could be dangerous near the ground.
The sketch was a theoretical invention, not evidence that Leonardo built a working parachute.