Themes

Quest for Knowledge

Arts and Architecture

Patrons and Lifestyles

Everyday Life

Trade & Exploration

Science & Technology

Today—The Internet
The Internet revolutionized the computer and communication. It has world wide broadcasting capabilities, it is a mechanism for information dissemination, and a medium for collaboration and interaction between individuals and their computers without regard for geographic location.

1924—Television
John Logie Baird airs first mechanical broadcast of a picture of the Maltese Cross. In 1936 the first scheduled television broadcasts begins in the United Kingdom with the Unites States following suit in 1939.

1876—First Multiple Copy Machine
Thomas Edison invents mimeograph a mechanical duplicator that is able to produces multiple copies by pressing ink onto paper through stencils. Eventually replaced by more sophisticated technology, the photocopy machine which is still in use today.

1690—First Newspaper
America's first newspaper, Publick Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestick is printed in Boston, Massachusetts and lasts only one issue since it was published without permission. It caused great outrage as it contained "reflections of a very high order".

1527—The Renaissance Connection
Note how the artist Ugo da Capri has carefully arranged several books in the foreground of the woodcut Diogenes. Although images of the Bible appeared in art works prior to the Renaissance, it was only after the invention of the moveable type printing press by Gutenberg (1455) that artists began to acknowledge the influence ancient writings and ideas were having on the world in which they we now living. Here da Capri includes several books to remind the viewer of the importance ancient Greek stories and Diogenes, the central figure, was a Greek thinker (412 - 323 B.C.).

The invention of the moveable type printing press did more than any other innovation to spread the ideas of the Renaissance. Gutenberg's invention led to acceleration of printed materials making books widely available for the first time. Mass communication by way the printed word was now possible. Between 1500 and 1600 an estimated 200 million books were printed. This was a significant change from the Medieval period when Monks and priests made books were by hand, painstakingly copied and often beautifully illustrated, or "illuminated" with small paintings. In 2002 over 665 million people around the world communicated using the internet with the United States having the most users with nearly 143 million people online followed by China with approximately 56.6 million. (219 words)

1455—Printing Press
Gutenberg invents a moveable type printing press made of cast metal and publishes the first Bible. His invention of the printing press led to acceleration of printed materials making books widely available for the first time.