c. 970 – 1051
Bi Sheng
ChinaManufacturingCommunications
Background
A Chinese artisan of the Northern Song dynasty, known through the writings of the scholar Shen Kuo.
Contribution
Devised the first known movable-type printing system around 1040, using individual characters cut into fired clay (ceramic) that could be arranged, printed, and reused.
Popular credit vs. the record
Movable type is often credited solely to Gutenberg in the West; Bi Sheng's ceramic system predates it by roughly four centuries.
Associated inventions
Collaborators & contemporaries
Sources & further reading
Each citation names the publisher and the exact reference title.
- Encyclopædia Britannica — technology & biography topic articlesEncyclopædia Britannica · Encyclopedia
- Science Museum Group Collection & topic articlesScience Museum Group (UK) · Museum
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