Johannes Gutenberg

Johannes Gutenberg was born into a patrician merchant family in Mainz, Germany, around 1395–1400. He later adopted his mother's surname, Gutenberg. His father, Freile zum Gensfleisch, was involved in trade, and young Johannes likely apprenticed as a goldsmith, gaining metalworking skills essential to his later inventions. In 1411, he is recorded in Mainz documents, but political unrest forced his family into exile, leading him to Strasbourg by around 1434–1444, where he engaged in polishing mirrors and possibly early printing experiments. Returning to Mainz around 1448, Gutenberg refined his printing system, securing financing from Johann Fust to fund tools, equipment, and a workshop. By 1455, he completed the Gutenberg Bible, marking Europe's first major movable-type book. Despite financial disputes that cost him his workshop, his invention fueled the Renaissance, Reformation, and global information dissemination. In his final years, he received a pension from the Archbishop of Mainz in 1465 for his contributions, living modestly until his death on February 3, 1468.