History of the Parachute: Sketches by Leonardo da Vinci – The existence of skydiving cannot be separated from the parachute used for jumping.
The working principle of the parachute was discovered by Leonardo da Vinci in the early 1480s, but the first demonstration of its use was in 1783.
In Trevor Homer’s The Book of Origins (2007), the legendary artist Leonard da Vinci is sketching equipment for parachuting.
However, the concept design of the equipment has not been realized into reality. The sketch of the parachute drawn by Leonardo da Vinci was triangular.
The first demonstration of the use of a parachute was carried out in 1783 by French physicist Louis-Sebastien Lenormand when he jumped from a tree holding two umbrellas and landed safely.
First dive
Do you know the first parachute jump in the world?
The first parachute jump occurred in 1797 when a Parisian named Andre Jacques Garnerin successfully jumped from a balloon.
Reportedly from a distance of approximately 3,200 feet, using a parachute with a swinging basket beneath it.
His wife, Jeanne Genevieve became the first female
parachutist in 1799. In 1802, Andre Jacques parachuted for the first time in England from a height of 8,000 feet.
Then the first successful parachute jump from an airplane occurred in 1912 by US Army Captain Albert Berry.
At that time parachutes were not given to pilots in World War I. The number of aircraft was less than the number of soldiers.
The High Command was of the opinion that the pilots would probably prefer to find the easiest way out of the fighter-to-fighter engagement and jump.
Because of this, hundreds of people died in burning planes or jumping from planes without parachutes.
Parachute development
As reported by National Geographic , the first person to make a parachute without a frame was Tom Baldwin, from America in 1897.
Then there was Leslie Irvin, an American who was the first to create a parachute that could be fully controlled by its user in 1919.
Over time, parachutes were developed to support military operations. In 1950, parachuting was recognized worldwide and considered a sport.
