Ottmar Mergenthaler
Ottmar Mergenthaler (May 10, 1854 – October 28, 1899) was a German inventor, who has been called a second Gutenberg because his invention of a machine that could easily and quickly set movable type revolutionized the art of printing. Prior to Mergenthaler's invention of the linotype in 1866, no newspaper in the world had more than eight pages.
Mergenthaler was born in Hachtel, Württemberg, Germany, the third son of a school teacher and apprenticed to a watchmaker before moving to Baltimore, Maryland, in 1872. In 1878, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. He invented the linotype in 1886, a machine that allowed an operator to automatically set metal type, which revolutionized the printing industry. He died of tuberculosis in Baltimore in 1899.
Baltimore’s vocational high school, Mergenthaler Vocational Technical High School, which opened in 1953, is named after him, although is it commonly referred to simply as "MERVO." Mergenthaler Hall on the Homewood campus of the Johns Hopkins University was constructed in 1940-41 with money provided by Eugene and Mrs. Ottmar Mergenthaler, son and widow of Ottmar Mergenthaler.