April 14 (UPI) -- Google is celebrating German craftsman Johannes Gutenberg who invented the mechanical moveable type printing press, with a new Google.
The invention made books affordable and accessible to to the common person.
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Google is paying homage to Johannes Gutenberg who invented the mechanical moveable type printing press. Image courtesy of Google
Google's homepage features artwork of Gutenberg and a printing press. The Doodle marks the anniversary of the Gutenberg Museum in Germany opening a exhibition in his honor in 2000.
Historians believe that Gutenberg started to develop a more efficient text printing device in the late 1430s that replaced the wooden letter and graphic blocks of traditional printers. Gutenberg made the invention to pay off debts from a failed mirror business.
Gutenberg's first successful print of a Latin book in speech-making came in 1450. He then hired an assembly-line team to print book faster than ever. The Gutenberg press printed on average 3,600 pages a day, helping with the production of books in Europe.
An estimate 200 million books were in print by the 16th century due to Gutenberg's invention. Today, he is honored with Project Gutenberg, an online library containing 60,000 free books.
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