The U.S. Postal Service unveiled four new stamps on Feb. 22 honoring "pioneers of communication." Two of the four, Ottmar Mergenthaler and Frederick E. Ives, helped shape modern newspaper production.
Mergenthaler invented the Linotype machine, which utilized hot lead to generate lines of type. The Linotype became the prevalent typesetting device throughout the world during the twentieth century. Ives played an important role in the development of the halftone printing process, which enables photographs to be displayed in newspapers.
These inventors join two others in the Pioneers of Communication series: William Dickson, who collaborated with Thomas Edison on the kinetoscope, and Eadweard Muybridge, who created the zoopraxiscope--a device that converts still photographs into moving images.
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