A helmet is a form of

protective gear Personal protective equipment (PPE) is protective clothing, helmets, goggles, or other garments or equipment designed to protect the wearer's body from injury or infection. The hazards addressed by protective equipment include physical, ele ...

worn to protect the

head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals ...

. More specifically, a helmet complements the

skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, th ...

in protecting the human

brain A brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as Visual perception, vision. I ...

. Ceremonial or symbolic helmets (e.g., a policeman's helmet in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

) without protective function are sometimes worn. Soldiers wear

combat helmet A combat helmet or battle helmet is a type of helmet. It is a piece of personal armor designed specifically to protect the head during combat. Modern combat helmets are mainly designed to protect from shrapnel and fragments, offer some pro ...

s, often made from

Kevlar Kevlar (para-aramid) is a strong, heat-resistant synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, the high-strength material was first used commercially in the early 1970s a ...

or other lightweight

synthetic fiber Synthetic fibers or synthetic fibres (in British English; see spelling differences) are fibers made by humans through chemical synthesis, as opposed to natural fibers that are directly derived from living organisms, such as plants (like cotton) ...

s. The word ''helmet'' is derived from ''helm'', an

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

word for a protective head covering. Helmets are used for recreational activities and sports (e.g.,

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual ...

s in

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

camogie Camogie ( ; ga, camógaíocht ) is an Irish stick-and-ball team sport played by women. Camogie is played by 100,000 women in Ireland and worldwide, largely among Irish communities. A variant of the game of hurling (which is played by men onl ...

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

and

rock climbing Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically a ...

); dangerous work activities such as

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and ...

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the econom ...

, riot police,

military aviation Military aviation comprises military aircraft and other flying machines for the purposes of conducting or enabling aerial warfare, including national airlift ( air cargo) capacity to provide logistical supply to forces stationed in a war thea ...

, and in transportation (e.g. motorcycle helmets and

bicycle helmet A bicycle helmet is a type of helmet designed to attenuate impacts to the head of a cyclist in falls while minimizing side effects such as interference with peripheral vision. There is ongoing scientific research into the degree of protection ...

s). Since the 1990s, most helmets are made from

resin In polymer chemistry and materials science, resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. Resins are usually mixtures of organic compounds. This article focuses on nat ...

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adapta ...

, which may be reinforced with fibers such as

aramid Aramid fibers, short for aromatic polyamide, are a class of heat-resistant and strong synthetic fibers. They are used in aerospace and military applications, for ballistic-rated body armor fabric and ballistic composites, in marine cordage, mar ...

Designs

Some British gamekeepers during the 18th and 19th centuries wore helmets made of

straw Straw is an agricultural byproduct consisting of the dry stalks of cereal plants after the grain and chaff have been removed. It makes up about half of the yield of cereal crops such as barley, oats, rice, rye and wheat. It has a number ...

bound together with cut bramble. Europeans in the tropics often wore the pith helmet, developed in the mid-19th century and made of

pith Pith, or medulla, is a tissue in the stems of vascular plants. Pith is composed of soft, spongy parenchyma cells, which in some cases can store starch. In eudicotyledons, pith is located in the center of the stem. In monocotyledons, it ext ...

cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

. Military applications in the 19th–20th centuries saw a number of

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and hog ...

helmets, particularly among aviators and

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful ...

crews in the early 20th century. In the early days of the

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded ...

, some motorists also adopted this style of headgear, and early

football helmet The football helmet is a piece of protective equipment used mainly in gridiron football, although a structural variation has occasional use in Australian rules football. It consists of a hard plastic shell with thick padding on the inside, a ...

s were also made of leather. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, American, Soviet, German, Italian and French flight crews wore leather helmets, the German pilots disguising theirs under a beret before disposing of both and switching to cloth caps. The era of the First and Second World Wars also saw a resurgence of metal military helmets, most notably the

Brodie helmet The Brodie helmet is a steel combat helmet designed and patented in London in 1915 by Latvian inventor John Leopold Brodie ( lv, Leopolds Janno Braude). A modified form of it became the Helmet, Steel, Mark I in Britain and the M1917 Helmet in t ...

and the Stahlhelm. Modern helmets have a much wider range of applications, including helmets adapted to the specific needs of many athletic pursuits and work environments, and these helmets very often incorporate plastics and other synthetic materials for their light weight and shock absorption capabilities. Some types of synthetic fibers used to make helmets in the 21st century include

fibers, such as

and

Twaron Twaron (a brand name of Teijin Aramid) is a para-aramid. It is a heat-resistant and strong synthetic fibre developed in the early 1970s by the Dutch company Akzo Nobel's division Enka BV, later Akzo Industrial Fibers. The research name of the ...

. Race car helmets include a head and neck support system that keeps the helmet (and head) attached to the body in severe collisions.

Helmet types

Helmets of many different types have developed over time. Most early helmets had military uses, though some may have had more ceremonial than combat applications. Two important helmet types to develop in antiquity were the

Corinthian helmet The Corinthian helmet originated in ancient Greece and took its name from the city-state of Corinth. It was a helmet made of bronze which in its later styles covered the entire head and neck, with slits for the eyes and mouth. A large curved pr ...

and the Roman galea. During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, many different military helmets and some ceremonial helmets were developed, almost all being metal. Some of the more important medieval developments included the great helm, the bascinet, the frog-mouth helm, and the

armet The armet is a type of combat helmet which was developed in the 15th century. It was extensively used in Italy, France, England, the Low Countries and Spain. It was distinguished by being the first helmet of its era to completely enclose the he ...

. The great seal of

Owain Glyndŵr Owain ap Gruffydd (), commonly known as Owain Glyndŵr or Glyn Dŵr (, anglicised as Owen Glendower), was a Welsh leader, soldier and military commander who led a 15 year long Welsh War of Independence with the aim of ending English rule in Wa ...

(c. 1359 – c. 1415) depicts the prince of

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

& his stallion wearing full

armour Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or f ...

, they both wear protective headgear with Owain's gold

dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted a ...

mounted on top. This would have been impractical in battle, so therefore these would have been ceremonial. In the 19th century, more materials were incorporated, namely leather, felt and

. The

pith helmet The pith helmet, also known as the safari helmet, salacot, sola topee, sun helmet, topee, and topi) is a lightweight cloth-covered helmet made of sholapith. The pith helmet originates from the Spanish military adaptation of the native '' salako ...

and the leather

pickelhaube The ( pl. ; from german: Pickel, lit=point' or 'pickaxe, and , , a general word for "headgear"), also , is a spiked helmet that was worn in the 19th and 20th centuries by Prussian and German military officers, firefighters and police. Althoug ...

were important 19th century developments. The greatest expansion in the variety of forms and composition of helmets, however, took place in the 20th century, with the development of highly specialized helmets for a multitude of athletic and professional applications, as well as the advent of modern plastics. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, the French army developed the

Adrian helmet The Adrian helmet (french: Casque Adrian) was an influential design of combat helmet originally produced for the French Army during World War I. Its original version, the M15, was the first standard helmet of the French Army and was designed whe ...

, the British developed the

, and the Germans produced the Stahlhelm. MotoX Helmet

Flight helmets were also developed throughout the 20th century. A multitude of athletic helmets, including

s, batting helmets, hockey helmets,

cricket helmet Helmets in cricket were developed in the 20th century. History There are recorded instances of cricketers using scarves and padded caps to protect themselves throughout cricket history. Patsy Hendren was one of the first to use a self-designed p ...

s, motorcycle helmets and racing helmets, were also developed in the 20th century. Helmets since the mid-20th century have often incorporated lightweight plastics and other synthetic materials, and their use has become highly specialized. Some important recent developments include the French SPECTRA helmet, Spanish MARTE helmet or the American PASGT (commonly called "Kevlar" by U.S. troops) and

Advanced Combat Helmet The Advanced Combat Helmet (ACH) is the United States Army's current combat helmet, used since the early 2000s. It was developed by the United States Army Soldier Systems Center, the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, and the U.S. Army Resea ...

, or ACH.

Heraldry

As the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

was originally designed to distinguish noble combatants on the battlefield or in a

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

, even while covered in

, it is not surprising that

heraldic Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branc ...

elements constantly incorporated the shield and the helmet, these often being the most visible parts of a

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

's military equipment. The practice of indicating

peerage A peerage is a legal system historically comprising various hereditary titles (and sometimes non-hereditary titles) in a number of countries, and composed of assorted noble ranks. Peerages include: Australia * Australian peers Belgium * Be ...

through the display of barred or grilled helmets first appeared around 1587-1615, and the heraldic convention of displaying helmets of rank in the United Kingdom, which came into vogue around Stuart times, is as follows: *Sovereign: a gold barred-face (tournament) helm placed affronté *Peer's helmet: silver barred-face (tournament) helm placed in profile *Knight's or baronet's helmet: steel helm (earlier jousting helm, later close helm) placed affronté with visor open *Esquire's helmet: steel helm placed in profile with visor closed Earlier

rolls of arms Roll or Rolls may refer to: Movement about the longitudinal axis * Roll angle (or roll rotation), one of the 3 angular degrees of freedom of any stiff body (for example a vehicle), describing motion about the longitudinal axis ** Roll (aviation) ...

reveal, however, that early heraldic helmets were depicted in a manner faithful to the styles in actual military or

use at the time.Fox-Davies, P. 316.

Gallery

File:Cretan Helmet.jpg, Boar tusk Minoan helmet, 1600–1500 BCE File:Boars's tusk helmet NAMA6568 Athens Greece1.jpg, Boar tusk Mycenaean helmet, 14th century BCE File:Corinthian helmet Denda Staatliche Antikensammlungen 4330.jpg,

, 500 BCE File:Greek - Chalcidian-Type Helmet - Walters 542468.jpg, Greek

Chalcidian helmet A Chalcidian helmet or Chalcidian type helmet was a helmet made of bronze and worn by ancient warriors of the Hellenic world, especially popular in Greece in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. The helmet was also worn extensively in the Greek (so ...

, 500 BCE File:Bronze helmet of conical shape MET DP21094.jpg, Greek pilos helmet, 450–425 BCE File:Boeotian helmet.jpg,

Boeotian helmet The Boeotian helmet was a type of combat helmet used in Ancient Greece during the classical and Hellenistic periods, as well as in Ancient Rome; it possibly originated in the Greek region of Boeotia. Characteristics The Boeotian helmet was mod ...

, 4th century BCE File:Illyrian-Greek helmet from Montenegro - Budva -4th cBC.png, Greek

Illyrian type helmet The Illyrian type helmet (or Greco-Illyrian type helmet) is a style of bronze helmet, which in its later variations covered the entire head and neck, and was open-faced in all of its forms.. It originated in Peloponnese, ancient Greece, and was d ...

, 4th century BCE File:Pletena helmet.jpg,

Thracian helmet A helmet is a form of protective gear worn to protect the head. More specifically, a helmet complements the skull in protecting the human brain. Ceremonial or symbolic helmets (e.g., a policeman's helmet in the United Kingdom) without protect ...

, 4th century BCE File:Parade helmet.jpg, Celtic (Gallic) parade helmet, 350 BCE File:Ancient bronze greek helmet -South Italy.jpg, Attic helmet, 350 BCE to 300 BCE File:Phrygian helmet.jpg, Greek bronze Phrygian helmet, 350 BCE to 300 BCE File:Roman helmet.jpg, Roman cavalry helmet, 1st century CE File:The Nijmegen cavalry helmet, an iron mask sheathed in bronze and silver discovered in 1915 on the left bank of the Waal river near Nijmegen, second half of the first century, Museum het Valkhof, Nijmegen (Netherlands) (9569871602).jpg, Roman cavalry helmet File:The black helmet of a Mongolian army(2).JPG, Black Mongolian helmet File:Khalili Collection Islamic Art mtw 1415.jpg, alt=Iranian helmet, iron, bronze rivets and gilding., Iranian, 7th or 8th century AD Spangenhelm File:KHM Wien A 12 - Bascinet by Master A, Milan, c. 1400, side.jpg, Early 15th century bascinet with ''hounskull'' visor File:Helm for the Joust of Peace (Stechhelm) MET DP271142.jpg, 15th-century German frog-mouth helm used in

jousting Jousting is a martial game or hastilude between two horse riders wielding lances with blunted tips, often as part of a tournament. The primary aim was to replicate a clash of heavy cavalry, with each participant trying to strike the opponen ...

File:Helmet of Mamluk Sultan Qaitbay, Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (37046195461).jpg, Ottoman zischagge helmet, mid-16th century File:German - Close Helmet of the "Maximilian" Style - Walters 51465 - Profile.jpg, 16th century Maximilian style close helmet File:Parade helmet VandA M.52-1909.jpg, 19th-century Japanese

kabuto ' (兜, 冑) is a type of helmet first used by ancient Japanese warriors which, in later periods, became an important part of the traditional Japanese armour worn by the samurai class and their retainers in feudal Japan. Note that in the ...

File:Braunschweigisches Husaren-Regiment Nr. 17 Totenkopf Paradehelm Cut out.jpg, German

Pickelhaube The ( pl. ; from german: Pickel, lit=point' or 'pickaxe, and , , a general word for "headgear"), also , is a spiked helmet that was worn in the 19th and 20th centuries by Prussian and German military officers, firefighters and police. Althoug ...

File:Musee-de-lArmee-IMG 0976.jpg, Late 19th-century pith helmet File:Soldiers Zhejiang Campaign 1942.jpg, Type 90 helmets worn by the Japanese during the Second World War File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-089-3779-11A, Russland, Hauptmann mit Ritterkreuz Recolored.jpg, A German stahlhelm during World War II File:VMA-311Flight Helmet.JPG,

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

era Marine squadron VMA-311 flight helmet File:US soldiers wearing the PASGT helmet, Hawaii (cropped).jpg, PASGT helmet File:Fire helmet, c. 1893, leather, steel - Old Colony History Museum - Taunton, Massachusetts - DSC03887.jpg, Leather and steel firefighting helmet File:Sporthelme.jpg, Ski helmet (left), paragliding helmet (right) File:STS-135 Sandy Magnus undergoes a fit check of her Sokol suit.jpg, Astronaut helmet File:Aviakit Pudding basin helmet.jpg, Aviakit motorcyclist "pudding basin" helmet File:White-helmets.jpg, Full face and open face motorcycle helmets File:Hurling helmet 000 0200.jpg,

Hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

Camogie Camogie ( ; ga, camógaíocht ) is an Irish stick-and-ball team sport played by women. Camogie is played by 100,000 women in Ireland and worldwide, largely among Irish communities. A variant of the game of hurling (which is played by men onl ...

helmet File:Magnus Muhrén 2012b.jpg,

Bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two teams wearing ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The international governing body for bandy is ...

helmet

References

External links

"Helmets...A Medieval Note In Modern Warfare"
August 1942, ''

Popular Science ''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...