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Johannes Gutenberg (C. 1400-1468)
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An illegitimate son of a canon of Mainz, Johannes Gutenberg dreamed of being able to reproduce manuscripts to the same standard of beauty and quality as that achieved by copyists, but without the painstaking physical labour that was involved. Although it's a myth that he invented printing as such - the Chinese had been able to do it for centuries - it was only through his pioneering development of moveable type that the mass-scale production of books became possible. His inventions were of tremendous significance, and were to survive without appreciable technological advancement right up to the twentieth century. However, they led to Gutenberg's personal ruin - his short-sighted creditors, interested only in making a quick profit, wrested his inventions from him by means of a lawsuit. Totally destitute, he thereafter had to rely on charitable handouts, latterly from the Electoral authorities, to continue his researches. His reward has come posthumously - the international exhibitions held in Mainz in 2000 hailed him, not without justification, as the "Man of the Millennium" Other useful information
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Germany,
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