Once a writing system is established, a means of easily and cheaply producing copies of information for the populace needs to be established. The printing press was developed by Johannes Gutenberg in 1455 in the city of Mainz, Germany. The press itself was composed of metal type-pieces set into a modified wine press. While printing using moveable type was already possible in countries such as China, Gutenberg’s press was the first to create a method of mass producing long-lasting metal type pieces, as well as creating ink and paper formulas that held the print without wicking. This type of press remained the standard for nearly 500 years and initiated an intellectual revolution in Europe. In order to develop this press, Gutenberg gathered pre-existing ideas (including paper, ink, type, etc.) and completely reinvented them. This epitomizes learning as it takes basic components from existing ideas, analyzes them and evaluates which aspects to keep and which to discard, and then improves them. Then each of these separate ideas is brought together like type pieces in a frame to create a functioning whole, an idea that can change the course of history.
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