Biography of Gutenberg: Western Civilization I, AS405, Mohawk College

This essay explores the life and contributions of Johannes Gutenberg, focusing on his invention of the printing press and its profound impact on Western Civilization. Gutenberg's ingenuity revolutionized book production, leading to increased accessibility of knowledge and contributing to the Renaissance, Protestant Reformation, and the advancement of science and education. The essay highlights the significance of Gutenberg's Bible and the widespread social and cultural changes that resulted from his innovation, emphasizing his lasting legacy on the modern world. The essay fulfills the requirements for a biography assignment for Western Civilization I (AS405) at Mohawk College.

Running head: HISTORY OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION
HISTORY OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION
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1HISTORY OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION
Introduction
There are several events in human history which derives great significance and value for
the way humans live at present. Johannes Gutenberg's renowned invention of the changeable sort
of printing press is recognised as one of the most vital innovations created in human history
(Haesler & Dobré, 2016). It is feasible that without the innovation of printing press there would
have been no Renaissance, Western democracy or technological revolution. The following paper
evaluates significant contributions Gutenberg has offered to the society through his innovative
creations.
Discussion
Gutenberg born during the 14th century is identified as the first German craftsmen whose
ingenuity reflected outstanding elements which did not have any existence in Chinese or Korean
printing during that period. Such a creation of Gutenberg related to the printing press signified
that books could be produced in larger numbers with greatest cost-effectiveness which was
beyond belief to the others during his time (Orochovska & Abysova, 2017). Such originality had
significantly been consequential to a considerable level of social and Cultural Revolution. The
consequences of which can still be observed in recent times which can be defined as internet
technologies. According to Haesler and Dobré (2016), there remains certain amount of ambiguity
about factors which inspired Gutenberg to innovate his first printing press as being a goldsmith.
Gutenberg with his immense fondness towards all kinds of inventions and imagination possessed
a dynamic and inquisitive mind. Further in the view of Weaver (2015), Gutenberg developed
several prototypes concerning the printing press from which he emerged with a resolution which
would simplify workload of humans and encourage experimentation rather than focusing on
unexpected flash of ideas. It has been observed by Triggle and Triggle (2017) that Gutenberg

2HISTORY OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION
possessed the plan that a range of typesets and fonts could be casted in brass. These characters
however would be resilient and uncomplicated to institute. Furthermore, these characters could
be utilised inexorably being reconsidered in order to make incessant variety of pages.
Guttenberg being a skilful artist has developed the inspiration of inking them by means of
a rolling mechanism which means that the page settings could be efficiently inked and prepared
within fraction of seconds. However it has been noted by Pisklakov and Livshits (2015) that
during the beginning of the 15th century every English terminology had to be arduously copied
by hand. Through this lengthy activity, Gutenberg competently distinguished the lucrative
capacity of mass-produced books and established his experimentation about printing methods
(Steinberg, 2017). Thus implementing typesetting technology and skills of Asia and highly
developed guidelines of oil based ink along with the design build on the olive and grapes screw
type presses were employed by wide range of farmers across the European region which led
Gutenberg to develop his renowned printing press. This innovation is regarded as a significant
step forward to what he was aiming for, which could produce several copies of a book (Weaver,
2015). Meanwhile Orochovska and Abysova (2017) claimed that there can be found several texts
and narratives of the successive period which cannot be identified as entirely owned by
Gutenberg as his copies had no patent laws.
At this juncture, Weaver (2015) has focused on the significant contribution Gutenberg’s
Bible offered which had a marvellous responsibility during that subsequent period. Triggle and
Triggle (2017) noted that Gutenberg’s Bible has been considered as a significant product of a
combination of technologies, expertise and ideas which emerged in order to produce the first
book to be printed with movable metal type during the 1450’s. The Bible had essentially
introduced the printing press as it was to be known for hundreds of years to follow. Gutenberg

3HISTORY OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION
printing press unquestionably had a significant influence which was infinite and caused
spectacular social and Cultural Revolution (Haesler & Dobré, 2016). However the sudden
prevalent broadcasting of printed works such as books, narratives, posters, as well as papers
offered sudden amplification to the European Renaissance (Triggle & Triggle, 2017).
Furthermore, accessibility of the Bible to be read not only in Latin language by priests and
ministers but also in other languages which are common to populace resulted in expected
materialization to the Protestant Revolution as well as the Age Of Enlightenment along with the
progress of contemporary science and widespread education (Orochovska & Abysova, 2017).
Conclusion
Hence to conclude it can be stated that the world today whether good or bad principally is
indebted to Gutenberg's creativity and innovation. Advance of contemporary science or universal
education or in other words every significant aspect of modern life which has resulted to human
development along with the advancement of the modern world has drawn significance from
Gutenberg's innovativeness and originality.

4HISTORY OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION
References
Haesler, A., & Dobré, M. (2016). The Medial Turn in Knowledge Society. In Proceedings of the
International Conference on Interdisciplinary Studies (ICIS 2016)-Interdisciplinarity and
Creativity in the Knowledge Society. InTech.
Orochovska, L., & Abysova, M. (2017). Cultural studies approach to mass-media as a factor of
mankind’s socio-cultural development. In MATEC Web of Conferences (Vol. 106, p.
01005). EDP Sciences.
Pisklakov, P., & Livshits, V. (2015). Randomness & Typography: Means Of Creating Unique
Instances In Typographic Design.
Steinberg, S. H. (2017). Five hundred years of printing. Courier Dover Publications.
Triggle, C. R., & Triggle, D. J. (2017). From Gutenberg to open science: an unfulfilled
odyssey. Drug development research, 78(1), 3-23.
Weaver, R. L. (2015). The Fourth Amendment and Technologically Based Surveillance. Tex.
Tech L. Rev., 48, 231.