BBC News | Millenium

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		In January, Trevor Baylis and Professor Heinz Wolff chose their inventors of the millennium: Frank Whittle and Michael Faraday. But News Online readers voted overwhelmingly for Johannes Gutenberg. Read your comments below plus News Online’s honourable mentions for the most creative entries. Return to the winners



			Johannes Gutenberg
			Inventor of the printing press
			Johannes Gutenberg pioneered techniques of metalwork, such as casting, punch-cutting, and stamping, for the mass production of books in the 15th century.

At the time, European books were written by hand. To reproduce this "look," Gutenberg invented a font with more than 300 characters and perfected the blend of lead, antimony, and tin used by type foundries up to the 20th century.

Your Top 10 Inventors:

1.	Johannes Gutenberg Printing Press
2.	Thomas Alva Edison Electrical innovations
3.	Leonardo Da Vinci Foreshadow invention in flight, astronomy, hydrodynamics
4.	Niccola Tesla AC (alternating current) induction motor
5.	Michael Faraday Electric motor, generator and transformer
6.	Charles Babbage Precursor of calculator and computer
7.	Alexander Graham Bell Telephone
8.	John Logie Baird Television
9.	Frank Whittle Jet engine
10.	Sir Isaac Newton Discovery of gravity

Honourable mentions

The vote attracted some interesting, though unconventional, suggestions. Two people voted for their own mother, presumably for creating themselves. Another put forward Yogi Baird - a hybrid of the cartoon character Yogi Bear and John Logi Baird, the inventor of TV. Other weird and wonderful propositions included: Whoever invented reading glasses Whoever invented remote control

What you said:

Without the written word being available to all, the world would have stayed in the hands of a small few. *P Alderson* Enabled the spread of ideas and dissemination of information to be much easier and available to a wider audience. *Becky Linford-Jones*


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