Leonardo da Vinci’s folded cone-shaped falling device is a parachute design.
Leonardo included the parachute in the Codex Atlanticus, probably around 1485. His drawing shows a rigid pyramidal framework covered with cloth, with a person suspended beneath it. The broad canopy was intended to create air resistance and slow a descent.
The design was not a modern parachute: it had a pyramid-like shape rather than a flexible round canopy. Leonardo also did not leave evidence that he personally tested it. Its importance lies in recognizing the principle that a large surface moving through air can reduce falling speed.
A 2000 experiment by Adrian Nicholas used a replica based on Leonardo’s proportions and demonstrated that the concept could descend successfully, although the replica was released from a hot-air balloon and abandoned near landing for safety.