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accredited as the ‘father of printing’. The system which he developed and introduced had caused a half million books to enter circulation by 1500, with ranging topics from classical Greek texts to Columbus’ account of the New World. Historians argue that not only did the introduction of the printing press influence scientific explorations, it was also one of the key factors in the explosion of the Renaissance. Martin Luther used the form of printed text to launch the Protestant Reformation in 1517 when he defied the Pope through Ninety-five Theses, thus causing the religious nature of society to spiral downwards even more so.

The democratization of knowledge can be looked at in three stages when discussing the printing press. Firstly, there was the mass production of new and old text being produced, as well as the first copyright laws being passed. This meant that academics of science were able to gain credit for the theories and experiments which they discovered, however, there was criticism where the printing press allowed the dissemination of information which may have been incorrect. Secondly, there was the decline of Latin as the most published language in printed texts. This was replaced by the common language of each area of publishing, subsequently increasing the variety of overall published works. This also meant that society was able to receive and ‘digest’ a great deal of information on the hundreds of new developments in science, even if not educated in Latin during its decline. Finally, the higher levels of city growth also led to the popularity of printed texts, as this gave rise to individual traders. This created a pathway for intellects who wanted to provide information on their theories and studies without having to go through merchant guilds. All of these factors highlight the importance of the printing press in the scientific revolution; academia were able to publish their findings and research to the general public without censors from the Church, and although potentially a negative side effect, this could be done by anyone, allowing a substantial amount of new ideas and thoughts being digested by society.

It is hard to establish a negative role that printed books had on the development of the scientific revolution. If being pedantic, the only negative which can be immediately highlighted is the environmental issues that arose from the printing press machinery. It is much clearer when observing the more positive roles printed text had on endeavours of science. As highlighted, when information and rea