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Johannes Gutenberg is who I believe is the greatest inventor of all time. I believe this because his most renowned invention, the printing press, led to more efficient printing, a literacy revolution, a scientific revolution, a European renaissance, and the rise of nationalism.

First off, the printing press was the first machine to print documents in mass amounts, but the alloy printing blocks were not the first printing blocks to be used. In the past, Asians had used wood and clay printing blocks. The downside to using wood and clay blocks was that the blocks soaked up the watery ink and could only be used once. In the Japanese language, there are over a thousand symbols making printing a very difficult and long process. Then in 1440, Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press. Gutenberg found a way of making alloy (non-tin) printing blocks. They held the watery ink and could be used multiple times.

Secondly, the printing press could print up to sixteen pages at a time. This turned out to be quite efficient compared to the single page that copyists had to hand write. Printed documents become more common, and thus a literacy revolution came to be. Before this time, not many people read, but with the growing occurrence of printed documents more people began to become more literate. Also, books were less expensive which led to an increase in reading among the lower classes.

Shortly afterwards, there came a scientific revolution. This was caused by the development of scientific journals. With the printing press, scientists were able to jot down their ideas, theories, and discoveries, and share them with other scientists. Soon thereafter, jargon was developed. During this scientific revolution, the printing press helped a set group of scientists to communicate with one another, which enabled the advancement of scientific discoveries.

Also during this time, there was a European renaissance. The renaissance was caused by the rediscovery of Greek and Roman classics. The printing press helped the renaissance by re-printing these ancient classics which apparently had been lose during the Dark Ages. The renaissance helped to strengthen the European public in the arts and humanities. Generally speaking, men and women were not as ignorant, according to literature, as they once had been.

Lastly, the spirit of nationalism was increased greatly. Before the invention of the printing press, peasants, in particular, did not care much about their government. Mainly they just tried to survive, only caring about their needs. After the printing press was invented, more political documents could be seen since these documents could not be mass-produced instead of handwritten one by one. The re-occurrence and popularity of these documents caused the people to start to care more about their country.

All in all, Johannes Gutenberg is who I believe to be the greatest inventor because he set the building blocks for more efficient printing which caused a literacy revolution, a scientific revolution, a European renaissance, and the rise of nationalism. Without the invention of the printing press, I fear that technological advancements as well as literary and humanity advancements would have occurred at a later date. This would have slowed advancements drastically in the long run. Society may not be as we know it to be today. It is a good thing Gutenberg was smart enough to invent the printing press.

Learn more about this author, Elli Hall.
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