Leonardo da Vinci’s pyramid-shaped, linen-canopy design proposed a parachute for human descent.
Leonardo sketched the design around 1485 in the Codex Atlanticus. It consisted of a rigid pyramidal wooden frame about seven metres high and wide, covered with tightly woven linen. Unlike a modern parachute, it had no flexible canopy; the frame was intended to keep the cloth spread open as it fell.
The drawing is one of several examples of Leonardo studying controlled flight and falling bodies. He did not record a documented full-scale test, so the design remained a concept during his lifetime. In 2000, British skydiver Adrian Nicholas built and tested a replica, descending successfully before using a modern parachute for safety.
The design is often called an early parachute, but it was not the first practical parachute. Its importance lies in showing that Leonardo reasoned about air resistance and the possibility of slowing a person’s fall centuries before modern parachuting developed.