The silver coin was issued by the National Bank of Slovakia in 2020 and pays tribute to Štefan Banič. An inconspicuous man was born 150 years ago and influenced the history of aviation.

Parachutes can be applied in a number of ways - they save the lives of pilots, transport army paratroopers behind the enemy line and provide sports enthusiasts with adrenaline fun. The first technical drawings of the parachute were processed by the Italian genius Leonardo da Vinci at the end of the 15th century. However, the first successful parachute jump dates back to 1783, when the French physicist Louis Sébastien Lenormand jumped off the tower of the Paris Observatory. Another milestone was reached by the Frenchman André-Jacques Garnerin, who jumped off a balloon flying at an altitude of 900 meters in 1797, using a silk parachute without a fixed frame. In 1911, the Russian designer Gleb Yevgenyevich Kotělnikov came up with a parachute packed in a backpack, as we know it today. However, innovation was not over even then. Štefan Banič, a Slovak who went for work to the USA, came up with a completely new concept of a parachute. Banic's invention resembled a skirt the pilot had pulled up to chest level. When the aviator jumped out of the plane, the skirt opened like an umbrella with the help of springs, leaving the pilot's arms and head above the stretched surface. One of the indisputable advantages of Banič's construction was the fact that the parachute was controllable, and the pilot could sail to a specific location. The inventor himself tested his parachute in front of representatives of the US Air Force when he jumped from a fifteen-story building on June 3, 1914. The enthusiastic Air Force bought his patent for exclusive use…

The obverse side of the coin, which was processed by the medal maker Mgr. art. Peter Valach, bears a detailed technical drawing of Štefan Banič's parachute taken from the original patent document. The reverse side with a nominal value of 10 EURO then presents the inventor's portrait.

The coin in quality standard was minted by the Slovak Mint Mincovňa Kremnica.