When English philosopher Francis Bacon was commenting on what he believed were the 3 inventions that changed the modern world, he mentioned gun powder, the compass, and the printing press. While all three have been respectively relevant throughout history, with gun powder changing the face of modern warfare; the compass evolved into the GPS and other direction giving devices. The printing press is the one invention that still stands out as one of the most positively beneficial inventions of all time, because of its ability to duplicate and spread knowledge to the masses. Creating a well informed and better educated public. The printing press fulfilled this by giving the people something to read, it allowed for new ideas to be
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The history of the press, its affect on the on our greater human culture, and how it applies to the world today.
The Western printing press was a created around 1440 by a German named Johannes Gutenberg; who got the idea from the wine presses of the Rhine valley (Idea finder). The first item Gutenberg copied with his press was the Bible. In spite of Gutenberg 's efforts to keep his technique a secret, the printing press spread rapidly. Before 1500 some 2500 European cities had acquired presses. Gutenberg 's press brought down the price of printed materials and made such materials available for the masses. Another unique component of Gutenberg 's press is that it is one of the first set of machines made with interchangeable or replaceable parts. It remained the standard until 1800 when British Scientist Charles Stanhope created a press entirely from cast iron, reducing the force required by 90% and doubling the size of the printed area, now capable of producing 250 sheets per …show more content…
Just like writing did not replace speaking, printing did not achieve a position of total dominance immediately. Handwritten manuscripts continued to be produced, and the different graphic modes of communication were still common. Gutenberg 's press, while slow to catch on with the everyday workingman, caught on early with scientists. Who used it as a way to communicate discoveries to each other and the public through the establishment of widely circulated scholarly journals; helping to bring about the scientific revolution (Skagit). Also during the early years of the printing press, people start to find authorship more meaningful. It was suddenly important to know who had said or written what, because in many works before the printing press the name of the author was entirely lost. People during that time had the mindset that now that we could know, we wanted to know. Along with finding greater importance in authorship, people also started to find greater importance in individualism, and new ideas. People begin to write about what they believe in. Martin Luther, the father of the protestant reformation, may not have even succeeded with the spread of his theology had it not been for the printing press. Not only because it allowed him to spread his
The history of the press, its affect on the on our greater human culture, and how it applies to the world today.
The Western printing press was a created around 1440 by a German named Johannes Gutenberg; who got the idea from the wine presses of the Rhine valley (Idea finder). The first item Gutenberg copied with his press was the Bible. In spite of Gutenberg 's efforts to keep his technique a secret, the printing press spread rapidly. Before 1500 some 2500 European cities had acquired presses. Gutenberg 's press brought down the price of printed materials and made such materials available for the masses. Another unique component of Gutenberg 's press is that it is one of the first set of machines made with interchangeable or replaceable parts. It remained the standard until 1800 when British Scientist Charles Stanhope created a press entirely from cast iron, reducing the force required by 90% and doubling the size of the printed area, now capable of producing 250 sheets per …show more content…
Just like writing did not replace speaking, printing did not achieve a position of total dominance immediately. Handwritten manuscripts continued to be produced, and the different graphic modes of communication were still common. Gutenberg 's press, while slow to catch on with the everyday workingman, caught on early with scientists. Who used it as a way to communicate discoveries to each other and the public through the establishment of widely circulated scholarly journals; helping to bring about the scientific revolution (Skagit). Also during the early years of the printing press, people start to find authorship more meaningful. It was suddenly important to know who had said or written what, because in many works before the printing press the name of the author was entirely lost. People during that time had the mindset that now that we could know, we wanted to know. Along with finding greater importance in authorship, people also started to find greater importance in individualism, and new ideas. People begin to write about what they believe in. Martin Luther, the father of the protestant reformation, may not have even succeeded with the spread of his theology had it not been for the printing press. Not only because it allowed him to spread his