Paper is Shown To Emperor of China, Paper Industry is Launched

March 11, 105

Tsai Lun (or Cai Lun), a eunuch in service to the Emperor of China, shows the court his version of paper. Lun had been experimenting with and refining a process for making paper that had been in use for two centuries prior. His paper, perhaps the first to incorporate wood, became the basis of the Chinese paper industry that eventually spread to the rest of the world a few hundred years later.

This is also perhaps the earliest event in technology history with a recorded date!