History UsefulNotes / JohannesGutenberg

Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (circa 1400 – February 3, 1468) was a German inventor and publisher during UsefulNotes/TheRenaissance.

!!Depictions

* ''Film/TheDayAfterTomorrow'': Half of the protagonists end up stuck at the New York Public Library while the city is being devastated by a tsunami then by an instant-freeze frost wave. They start burning books to keep themselves warm, then bump into the Library's Gutenberg Bible. One of them, despite being atheist, decides to keep it as a treasure of humanity and brings it along when they are eventually rescued.

He pioneered the movable type [[note]] in Europe; China and Korea invented systems about 200-300 years earlier, but the technology didn't stick, most likely because at the time, both languages used logographic writing systems with thousands of characters. In one of history's great ironies, Korea would adopt an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangul alphabetic writing system]] in 1443: shortly after Gutenberg's invention in Europe, and long after the technology had been mostly forgotten in East Asia.[[/note]], which is a fairly important invention.

Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (circa 1400 – February 3, 1468) was a German inventor and publisher.

* ''Film/TheDayAfterTomorrow'': Half of the protagonists end up stuck at the New York Public Library while the city is being devastated by a tsunami then by an instant-freeze frost wave. They start burning books to keep themselves warm, then bump into the Library's Gutenberg Bible. One of them, despite being atheist, decides to keep it as a treasure of humanity and brings it with him when they are eventually rescued.

Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (circa 1400 – February 3, 1468) invented the movable type [[note]] in Europe; China and Korea invented systems about 200-300 years earlier, but the technology didn't stick, most likely because at the time, both languages used logographic writing systems with thousands of characters. In one of history's great ironies, Korea would adopt an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangul alphabetic writing system]] in 1443: shortly after Gutenberg's invention in Europe, and long after the technology had been mostly forgotten in East Asia.[[/note]], which is a fairly important invention.

Gutenberg was originally a goldsmith from the city of Mainz in what is now the state of [[UsefulNotes/TheSixteenLandsOfDeutschland Rhineland-Palatinate]] (at the time, it was an independent Archbishop-Electorate within the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire). He was born to a [[MerchantPrince patrician merchant]] who probably dealt in cloth. A good smith and smart businessman, Gutenberg's famous invention almost never happened: he had gotten into a scheme to fleece pilgrims expected to come to the holy city of Aachen for the city's anniversary in 1439 by selling them polished mirrors to capture "holy light," but his partners got the date wrong--by a ''whole year''--and besides Aachen was struck by a flood that kept any festivities from happening there for quite a while. Desperate to pay back his partners, he said, in effect, "I have another idea. I've kept it a secret, but now I'll share it with you, and you'll make your fortune another way. Just give me a little while to perfect it, and you'll see."

Gutenberg was originally a goldsmith from the city of Mainz in what is now the state of [[UsefulNotes/TheSixteenLandsOfDeutschland Rhineland-Palatinate]] (at the time, it was an independent Archbishop-Electorate within the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire). He was born to a [[BlueBlood patrician merchant]] who probably dealt in cloth. A good smith and smart businessman, Gutenberg's famous invention almost never happened: he had gotten into a scheme to fleece pilgrims expected to come to the holy city of Aachen for the city's anniversary in 1439 by selling them polished mirrors to capture "holy light," but his partners got the date wrong--by a ''whole year''--and besides Aachen was struck by a flood that kept any festivities from happening there for quite a while. Desperate to pay back his partners, he said, in effect, "I have another idea. I've kept it a secret, but now I'll share it with you, and you'll make your fortune another way. Just give me a little while to perfect it, and you'll see."

!!Depictions in fiction

The secret, of course, was his movable-type printing press--and yes, he and his partners ''did'' get very rich--eventually, anyway. He would lose all of that money as well as his equipment in a lawsuit against one of said partners, and the only reason he didn't die in abject poverty was the protection and pension that Adolph II of Nassau, the Archbishop of Mainz, granted him afterwards.

The secret, of course, was his movable-type printing press--and yes, he and his partners ''did'' get very rich--eventually, anyway. He would lose all of that money as well as his equipment in a trial against one of said partners, and the only reason he didn't die in abject poverty was the protection and pension that Adolph II of Nassau, the Archbishop of Mainz, granted him afterwards.

The secret, of course, was his movable-type printing press--and yes, he and his partners ''did'' get very rich--eventually, anyway. He would lose all of that money as well as his equipment in a trial against one of said partners, and the only reason he didn't die in abject poverty was the protection that Adolph II of Nassau, the Archbishop of Mainz, granted him afterwards.

The secret, of course, was his movable-type printing press--and yes, he and his partners ''did'' get very rich--eventually, anyway. He would lose all of that money as well as his equipment in a trial against one of his creditors, and the only reason he didn't die in abject poverty was the protection that Adolph II of Nassau, the Archbishop of Mainz, granted him afterwards.

Gutenberg was originally a goldsmith from the city of Mainz in what is now the state of [[UsefulNotes/TheSixteenLandsOfDeutschland Rhineland-Palatinate]] (at the time, it was an independent Archbishop-Electorate within the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire). He was born to a [[BlueBlood patrician merchant]] who probably dealt in cloth. A good smith and smart businessman, Gutenberg's famous invention almost never happened: he had gotten into a scheme to fleece pilgrims expected to come to the holy city of Aachen for the city's anniversary in 1439 by selling them polished mirrors to capture "holy light," but his partners got the date wrong--by a ''whole year''--and besides Aachen was struck by a flood that kept any festivities from happening there for quite a while. Desperate to pay back his partners, he said, in effect, "I have another idea. I've kept it a secret, but now I'll share it with you, and you'll make your fortune another way. Just give me a little while to perfect it, and you'll see." The secret, of course, was his movable-type printing press--and yes, he and his partners ''did'' get very rich--eventually, anyway. He would lose all of that money as well as his equipment in a trial against one of his creditors, and the only reason he didn't die in abject poverty was the protection that Adolph II of Nassau, the Archbishop of Mainz, granted him afterwards.

Gutenberg was originally a goldsmith from the city of Mainz in what is now the state of [[UsefulNotes/TheSixteenLandsOfDeutschland Rhineland-Palatinate]] (at the time, it was an independent Archbishop-Electorate within the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire). He was born to a [[BlueBlood patrician merchant]] who probably dealt in cloth. A good smith and smart businessman, Gutenberg's famous invention almost never happened: he had gotten into a scheme to fleece pilgrims expected to come to the holy city of Aachen for the city's anniversary in 1439 by selling them polished mirrors to capture "holy light," but his partners got the date wrong--by a ''whole year''--and besides Aachen was struck by a flood that kept any festivities from happening there for quite a while. Desperate to pay back his partners, he said, in effect, "I have another idea. I've kept it a secret, but now I'll share it with you, and you'll make your fortune another way. Just give me a little while to perfect it, and you'll see." The secret, of course, was his movable-type printing press--and yes, he and his partners ''did'' get very rich--eventually, anyway.

Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable type [[note]] in Europe; China and Korea invented systems about 200-300 years earlier, but the technology didn't stick, most likely because at the time, both languages used logographic writing systems with thousands of characters. In one of history's great ironies, Korea would adopt an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangul alphabetic writing system]] in 1443: shortly after Gutenberg's invention in Europe, and long after the technology had been mostly forgotten in East Asia.[[/note]], which is a fairly important invention.

Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable type [[note]] in Europe; China and Korea invented systems a few centuries earlier, but the technology didn't stick, perhaps due to the large number of logograms in their languages[[/note]], which is a fairly important invention.

Gutenberg was originally a goldsmith from the city of Mainz in what is now the state of [[UsefulNotes/TheSixteenLandsOfDeutschland Rhineland-Palatinate]] (at the time, it was an independent Archbishop-Electorate within the HolyRomanEmpire). He was born to a [[BlueBlood patrician merchant]] who probably dealt in cloth. A good smith and smart businessman, Gutenberg's famous invention almost never happened: he had gotten into a scheme to fleece pilgrims expected to come to the holy city of Aachen for the city's anniversary in 1439 by selling them polished mirrors to capture "holy light," but his partners got the date wrong--by a ''whole year''--and besides Aachen was struck by a flood that kept any festivities from happening there for quite a while. Desperate to pay back his partners, he said, in effect, "I have another idea. I've kept it a secret, but now I'll share it with you, and you'll make your fortune another way. Just give me a little while to perfect it, and you'll see." The secret, of course, was his movable-type printing press--and yes, he and his partners ''did'' get very rich--eventually, anyway.

* In one of the cases in ''[[VideoGame/WhereInTimeIsCarmenSandiego1997 Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego?]]'', the original Gutenberg Bible is stolen by Carmen's thief and you have to use Gutenberg's printing press to create a WantedPoster.

Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable type [[note]] in Europe; China and Korea invented systems a few centuries earlier, but the technology didn't stick, perhaps due to the large number of logograms in their languages[[/note]], which is a fairly important invention. He was featured in a ''Peabody's Improbable History'' short on ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle''.