Renaissance+and+Reformation+Invention


 * The Printing Press || The Mariner's Astrolabe ||
 * [[image:printing_press.jpg width="347" height="225" align="center"]] || [[image:The_Mariner's_Astrolabe.jpg width="306" height="291"]] ||
 * This picture depicts a printing press. A printing press is a machine on which metal type is organized against a flat surface. Paper is placed against the type, and another flat surface or heavy cylinder is pressed against the paper, resulting in a type imprinting onto the paper surface. This was a great invention that revolutionized communication by making it possible for the first time to distribute documents to a large number of people in a short amount of time. This awesome new invention is credited to Johannes Gutenberg in 1450. This invention was one of the most significant in history, as it increased the output of printed material and made such material available gave more people a chance to get an education and learn how to read and write.

This was a very social impact because now people could get an education so it changed the society by having more people with an education. It was also an economic impact because now people could buy books for a much cheaper price then before. Also there were more books produced in a shorter time so more could be sold to people in a shorter time. || This invention was important because it could determine the latitude of where someone was at a certain time. So to find the place you needed to go you would go to the place of known latitude and the ship would then sail east or west along the latitude line until the placed was reached. To find the latitude of a ship that was out at sea, the noon altitude of the sun was measured during the day or the altitude of a star of known declination was measured when it was on the meridian at night. An astrolabe was a simple brass ring, graduated in degrees with a rotating alidade for sighting the sun or a star.

This was a big social impact because now people had a more accurate way of finding the latitude of which they were at. It could help more people find there way home after traveling to their destination so there was less of a chance of them getting lost at sea and dying from starvation. So it obviously saved many peoples lives. ||