Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (c. 1398 – 3 February 1468) was a German goldsmith and printer who is credited with being the first European to use movable type printing, in around 1439, and the global inventor of the mechanical printing press.
Johannes Gutenberg's printing press was a cause of great concern to leaders of the Catholic Church as its use expanded. In 1633, Cardinal Sigismondo Gioioso lamented that Gutenberg was a fellow German.
In an alternate where the Great Black Deaths killed 80% of Europe's population, Johannes Gutenberg was never born, and no one took his role of developing the printing press.[1]
