Leonardo da Vinci’s design of the parachute with build instructions. From his Codex Atlanticus, circa 1485. [1147×1079]
by swagiliciously
Leonardo da Vinci’s design of the parachute with build instructions. From his Codex Atlanticus, circa 1485. [1147×1079]
by swagiliciously
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Leonardo da Vinci developed countless engineering ideas throughout his life, including the parachute, hang glider, helicopter, machine gun, and armored tank. This is his take on the parachute (Codex Atlanticus, folio 1058).
His build instructions are: “If a man has a structure made out of coated cloth 12 arms wide and 12 tall, he will be able to throw himself from any great height without hurting himself”
This was most likely untested during his time, but his invention was [created and tested in 2000 by Adrian Nicholas](https://www.angelfire.com/electronic/awakening101/davinci-chute.html). Made of canvas and wood and weighing almost 200 lbs, the da Vinci parachute gently floated Nicholas down from a height of 10,000ft. (To prevent crashing, Nicholas cut the da Vinci parachute and used a modern parachute to reach the ground safely)