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The inventor of movable type letterpress printing is Johannes Gensfleisch von Sorgenloch, widely know as Gutenberg. Born in 1400 in Mainz, he died on the 3rd of February in 1468 in the same town.
By inventing letterpress he started off a media revolution, which first spread within Europe and later into the whole world. His main/master work, the Gutenberg Bible, is much vaunted for it's aesthetical and technical quality. Not only the development of movable types was a offspring of his genius, but also a convenient alloy of plumb and tin as well as a oil emulsive ink and a hand-held device for type casting. And with the later invention of the printing press in addition to the other components he laid out the foundation for the mass production of books, which led to a easier, faster and a big amount accomplishing production of books and journals. Therefore printed media soon became part of everyday life and scripts redundant. Moreover the new printing technique contributed to the alphabetisation and education of the people by providing easy access to texts, that weren't in public before.
In 1997 the US Time-Life magazine voted Gutenbergs letterpress printing most important invention of the second millenium and in 1999 the Mainz-born was accounted “Man of the Millenium” by A&E Network.