Known to the world as The father of printing of the United States, Gutenberg was born in Mainz, Germany, as the son of a merchant, Friele Gensfleisch zur Laden. Gutenberg's father took the surname "zum Gutenberg" after the name of the place they now lived. Books have been around for nearly 3,000 years, but until Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in the mid-1400s they were rare and hard to produce. Text and illustrations were done by hand, which was indeed a very time-consuming process, and only the wealthy and educated could afford them. But within a few decades of Gutenberg's innovation, printing presses were operating in almost all countries of Europe & many other parts of the world.
Born into a modest merchant family in Mainz, Germany, circa 1395, Johannes Gutenberg’s work as an inventor and printer would have a major impact on communication and learning worldwide. There is little recorded history of this early life, but local records indicate he apprenticed as a goldsmith while living in Mainz. When a craftsman revolt erupted in Mainz against the noble class in 1428, Johannes Gutenberg’s family was exiled and settled in what is now Strasbourg, France, where his experiments with printing began. Already familiar with bookmaking, Gutenberg perfected small metal type. Infinitely more practical than carving complete wood blocks for printing, each type was a single letter or character. Gutenberg invented a sort of metal alloy for printing; inks; a way to fix type (metal letters) very accurately; and a new sort of printing press. He took the idea for his printing press from the presses wine-makers used. Many people say Gutenberg invented printing with movable type, but it was already invented in China before that.
Before movable type, people used block printing, where the printer prints a whole page from one piece of metal or wood. With movable type, the printer makes a letter (A, B, C ...) from a piece of metal or wood, and can use it again and again in different words. Together, all Gutenberg's inventions made printing fast. In Renaissance Europe, the improved information technology made an information explosion - in a short time, people printed many new books about many topics.
