The historical figure Johannes Gutenberg is being celebrated for his invention of printing with moveable types.
Born in Mainz, the capital of the German Federal State Rhineland-Palatinate, in 1397, he grew up as a son of a patrician family. In 1430 he went to Strasbourg where he worked as a mirror-maker and gem-cutter, but returned to Mainz in 1448. By the time he came back to Germany, he had already been studying letter press printing for 15 years.
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From 1452-1455 he gained world-wide fame by printing the Bible, today known as the Gutenberg bible. The option of printing with moveable patterns made it easier to disseminate texts. Besides beautifully hand-written texts, like the Book of Kells, which was only accessible to scholars, there was now the possibility of printing papers and making them attainable for a wider spectrum of people. Learning how to read and write gained more importance for all people. It became much easier to spread ideas like the Reformation by printing leaflets with the new method and distributing them among the people. By the time he died, on February the 3rd 1468, Johannes Gutenberg had established one of the most influential inventions of all times.
