Renaissance Printing Press

The Renaissance was a time of rebirth in Europe. The rediscovering of the learning and art from ancient Greece and Rome sparked new ideas and inspired people in Europe to think about the world in new and different ways. Several discoveries and inventions were developed during this era. One big discovery of the Renaissance was the inventing of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg. Scientific and religious ideas of the Renaissance would not have spread without the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press.

During the Renaissance, Johannes Gutenberg introduced his revolutionizing invention, the printing press. Before the printing press, the spread of knowledge and learning was challenging. Advances in any field of learning were difficult to

Each of these scientists contributed to the Scientific Revolution. The development of new ideas and being able to spread them among others, made the revolution possible. Andreas Vesalius made great developments in anatomical studies. His book, On the fabric of the Human Body was printed in 1543. In his text, Vesalius explained functions of the human body and shared detailed drawings of bones, veins, etc (Stewart 37). “Vesalius’s work, based on dissections of humans, was the most important work in human anatomical studies for the next 200 years” (Crompton 47). By having his works printed, Vesalius could share his incredible developments in the field of science. As a result of the printing press, brilliant scientific writings including those of Vesalius, were accurate and easily spread (Butler). This made it easier for the public and other scientists to view other peoples ideas and build off of them. The discoveries of Galileo also circulated across Europe with the aid of the printing press. He studied the surface of the moon and other planets. His results were publicized when they were printed in his book, The Starry Messenger. Although Galileo spent most of his life under house arrest by the Inquisition, his ideas were still able to across Europe with the assistance of printing (Crompton 49). Medicine and anatomy also advanced and spread during the Renaissance. William Harvey made many breakthroughs including finding how arteries, capillaries, and blood vessels work in the body. He shared these ideas in his book Anatomical Studies on the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals (Crompton 50). With the printing press multiple copies of one work could be made at a time rather than having handwritten copies that took months to produce (Wishnia). Multiple copies of his work were shared and read throughout Europe. With the use of the printing press