Leonardo da Vinci’s proposed device for descending safely from a height was a parachute.
Leonardo sketched the design in the Codex Atlanticus around 1485. It consisted of a pyramid-shaped wooden frame about 7.2 metres (nearly 24 feet) high and wide, covered with tightly stretched linen. He wrote that a person could jump from a great height without injury while using it.
The sketch is an early parachute concept, not evidence that Leonardo tested or built a working example. Its broad canopy was intended to create air resistance and slow a fall. The pyramid shape differs from the flexible round canopies used in modern parachuting.
A 2000 experiment by Adrian Nichols used a replica based on Leonardo’s proportions; it reportedly worked, although Nichols used a modern parachute for the actual landing because the wooden frame could be dangerous. Leonardo’s design therefore belongs to the history of parachute ideas, centuries before practical parachutes became available.