The following is an encore presentation of Everything Everywhere Daily.

This week I'm going to be publishing some of my favorite episodes from 2021,

and I will be back again with brand new episodes on Monday, January 3rd, 2022.

The printing press is considered to be one of, if not the greatest invention in history.

The printing press allowed for an explosion of information

and it ushered in the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the scientific industrial revolutions.

As such, Johannes Gutenberg is often considered one of the most important people in history.

But did Gutenberg actually invent the printing press?

Should he be given credit for this important invention?

Learn more about Gutenberg and the invention of the printing press on a bit more

nuanced than a simple yes or no.

There are some inventions that might be that simple, but the printing press is not one of them.

So let's break the question down into several other questions

that'll help clarify what happened. The starting point for this discussion

will be the creation of the first Gutenberg Bible which was printed in the year

1455 in Germany.

With that, was Gutenberg the first person ever to create and use a printing press?

The answer to this is an unequivocal no.

Several centuries before Gutenberg, they were using printing presses in China.

The earliest known printed work is a Buddhist text known as The Diamond Sutra.

The Diamond Sutra dates back to the year 868 during the Tang Dynasty.

There are other documents from the same time period, including calendars, mathematical tables, funeral and wedding guides, as well as educational material.

...