Gutenberg inspecting the first proof sheet of his Bible printed from movable type. Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (1398-1468) was a German blacksmith, goldsmith, printer, and publisher who introduced modern book printing. His invention of mechanical movable type printing started the Printing Revolution and is widely regarded as the most important event of the modern period. It played a key role in the development of the Renaissance, Reformation, the Age of Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution and laid the material basis for the modern knowledge-based economy and the spread of learning to the masses. He was the first European to use movable type printing, in around 1439.