Parachute May Have Been Invented By Ancient Chinese – Not Leonardo Da Vinci

Conny Waters - AncientPages.com - Leonardo Da Vinci is often credited with the invention of the first parachute. However, although he was a brilliant scientist, he did not invent the parachute. The history of parachutes can be traced to ancient China where we can find old references to the parachute-idea.

The earliest account of a parachute type of device was made some 4,000 years ago when the Chinese noticed that air resistance would slow a person's fall from a height.

In his book "Historical Records",  the Western Han Dynasty writer Sima Qian mentions a legend which described how the emperor Shun nearly 2000 years before the Han Dynasty (4000 years past the present) use a sort of parachute to survive a fall.

According to the legend, Shun's father Gu Sou intended to kill him by forcing him to get on top of a roof and then burning him to death. Fortunately Shun held two large conical bamboo hats to escape from the roof and land on the ground safely. This is the principal of using bamboo hats to increase air resistance to reduce the falling speed.

As the eighth-century AD commentator Sima Zhen understood the idea of the parachute principle, he said that the hats acted  like the great wings of a bird to make Shun’s body light and bring him safely to the ground.

Another, also extremely interesting reference we can find in the Ting Shi (Lacquer Table History) written by Yo Ke in 1214 AD. In this report, the grandson of the general Yo Fei describes what he saw in the foreign community of Arabs who lived in Canton, where his father was governor there.

Left: Fausto Veranzio's parachute design, titled Homo Volans ("Flying Man"), from his Machinae Novae ("New Contraptions", published in 1615 or 1616) via wikipedia; Right: Jacques Garnerin releases the balloon and descends with the help of a parachute, 1797. Illustration from the late 19th century.

He tells of a golden cock on the top of a pagoda; this lacked one leg, which had been stolen. The thief tried to sell the leg in the market and when questioned  he explained how he had hidden in the pagoda and sawn it off.

Asked how he had been escaped, he replied:

“..I descended by holding on to two umbrellas without handles. After I jumped into the air, the high wind kept them fully open, making them like wings for me, so I reached  the ground without injury..”

Then, later on in 200 B.C., there were acrobats performing stunts of great falls using something similar to parachutes during their acrobatics in the palaces of the early Han Emperors. Hence the invention of the parachute was for performances to entertain one emperor in China or to escape from another (murderous) emperor.

There are also historical accounts from 1308 indicating that again the acrobatics of the parachute activities appeared in the palace of the Yuan Emperor. In 1650 the parachute was being used in Siam (modern Thailand).

See also:

On This Day In History: Parachute Jump From 1,000 m Above Paris Is Recorded – On Oct 22, 1797

Did Leonardo Da Vinci Invent Contact Lenses In 1508?

The Battle Of Anghiari – Lost Painting Of Leonardo Da Vinci – One Of Art History’s Greatest Mysteries

The earliest evidence for the modern parachute dates back to the Renaissance period and the oldest parachute design is mentioned in an anonymous manuscript from 1470s.

Shortly after, a more sophisticated parachute was sketched by the polymath Leonardo da Vinci in his "Codex Atlanticus" (fol. 381v) dated to ca. 1485.

An old parachute design appears in an anonymous manuscript from 1470s Renaissance Italy. A more sophisticated parachute was later sketched by the Leonardo da Vinci in his Codex Atlanticus dated to ca. 1485.

Written by Conny Waters – AncientPages.com Staff Writer

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