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Johannes Gutenberg Research Paper

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Many people have made an impact on our society with their ideas and inventions. One of the people that made a big impact on the world is Johannes Gutenberg who invented the moveable type printing press. His invention made major improvements to the printing industry and made things more convenient for many people. Without his invention our society might not have developed as quickly as it did.
Unfortunately, not much is known about Gutenberg’s early life. He was born between 1394 and 1400 to a wealthy family of goldsmiths and coin minters, in present day southwest Germany (new) Historians are unsure, but because of Gutenberg’s knowledge of Latin scholars believe it’s likely that he attended university. It’s unlikely that Gutenberg ever married …show more content…

Gutenberg was able to perfect his methods “he forged easily cast uniform typeface, formulated a special ink that would adhere to metal, and modified the standard wooden wine press to fit the task of printing on paper.” Sadly, there partnership ended in 1455 because Faust wanted Gutenberg to pay him back on his investment. Before the pair split they were able to produce the famous Gutenberg Bible. Based on Gutenberg’s paper supply historians believe he produced around 180 bibles which was a large number at the time. (n2) The bible was sold for about 30 Florins, which was a large amount of money at the time. (n2) Faust sued Gutenberg for not paying back his investment of two thousand guilders and the court ruled in favor of Faust, which in turn made Gutenberg go bankrupt.(new) Gutenberg also had to turn in his printing equipment to Faust and half the bibles they had made, although he did open his own print shop its likely he never made a profit off of the bibles (new 2). After the split Gutenberg produced the 36 line bible and an encyclopedia called the Catholicon. It is likely that Gutenberg stopped printing after the production of the Catholicon. Even though he may have stopped, many others, including those in other countries continued to use his invention because of its convenience and ability to print things

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