Johannes Gutenberg

With the invention of the personal computer and the Internet, a new age in communications began. Now people could communicate faster and more easily than ever before. Writing, editing, and storing information became quick and easy. It was no longer necessary to write draft after draft when changes could be made so easily using a word processor program. Messages could now be sent in no time to anywhere in the world, without addressing envelopes or paying for stamps.

Centuries earlier, around the year 1450, a similar revolution in communications had occurred in Germany. This happened when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press. Gutenberg was not the first person to use printing to copy a piece of writing. Printing had already been invented in China, where they used clay to print Chinese characters. Small items, such as posters and flyers, were already being printed in Europe too, using the woodblock method of printing. Books and other larger works, however, were still being copied by hand. At this time, books were usually produced only in Latin, and only the most educated people read them. Gutenberg's printing press changed all of this.

Gutenberg's printing press used type made of metal. Each letter or punctuation mark was cast separately. This meant that the type could be rearranged over and over again to print many different items. This improvement to the printing process was called moveable type.