Bi Sheng invents movable type press

Bi Sheng, a Chinese inventor from the Northern Song Dynasty, is credited with inventing the movable type printing press around 1040 AD. His innovation involved creating individual clay characters that could be arranged and rearranged to form text, a significant improvement over the labor-intensive woodblock printing. Although not widely adopted in China at the time, Bi Sheng’s movable type laid the groundwork for future advancements in printing technology. This invention is considered a pivotal moment in the history of printing, influencing later developments in Europe, notably Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press, which revolutionized the dissemination of knowledge and information.