A Chinese artisan of the Northern Song dynasty credited with inventing movable type printing between 1039 and 1048, during the reign of Emperor Renzong. He formed individual characters from sticky clay cut as thin as the edge of a coin, baked them hard, and set them into an iron frame on an iron plate coated with a mixture of pine resin, wax and paper ashes; gently heating the plate softened the adhesive so the type could be pressed flat and set for printing, with multiple type sets used in alternation to speed production. His method is recorded by the polymath Shen Kuo in the Dream Pool Essays, written after Bi Sheng's death.
Facts
Disputed
Birth YearOnly his death in 1051 is precisely attested in the primary source (Shen Kuo Dream Pool Essays); 972 is the approximate birth year usually given from the traditional biographical range of 972-1051. RoleInventor of movable type printing 1 Role
Role (category) Connections
In Era
Related To
Bi Sheng clay movable type (Song dynasty, 1039-1048) predates and is the earliest attested movable-type printing; the printing revolution entity models the later, larger-scale transformation the technology made possible, most visibly after Gutenberg independent European development.
Source Wikipedia: Bi Sheng
In the Other Atlases
Same As
Also in Technology and Engineering Atlas: the same subject.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Bi Sheng
Wikipedialead section
Bi Sheng, a man of unofficial position, made movable type.
infobox, life dates
Bi Sheng (died 1051) was a Chinese artisan and engineer during the Song dynasty (960-1279).
infobox, death year and Biography section
Because Bi was a commoner, not an educated person, little is known about his life besides this invention.
Bi Sheng: Gender
He formed individual characters from sticky clay cut as thin as the edge of a coin, baked them hard, and set them into an iron frame on an iron plate coated with a mixture of pine resin, wax and paper ashes; gently heating the plate softened the adhesive so the type could be pressed flat and set for printing, with multiple type sets used in alternation to speed production.
- Related To: The Printing Revolution, Invention section, dating and method
View the Source Wikidata: Bi Sheng
Wikidata Q200662, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.