Leonardo da Vinci’s pyramid-shaped canopy design proposed a parachute for controlled descent.
Leonardo recorded the design in the Codex Atlanticus around 1485. His sketch shows a sealed linen canopy supported by wooden poles, forming a pyramid about 7.2 metres high and 7.2 metres wide. He wrote that a person could descend safely from a height while holding the structure.
The design differs greatly from a modern round or ram-air parachute, but it uses the same basic principle: a broad surface creates air resistance and slows a fall. Leonardo did not test it himself. In 2000, British skydiver Adrian Nichols built and jumped with a replica, although he opened a modern parachute as a safety measure after finding the replica difficult to control.