While it is similar to the common question: Which came first: the chicken or the egg? The question of what happened first between the pencil and the pen is not so much philosophical, evolutionary physiological, but purely historical. But without the historical data at hand, most would be stumped to give an assertive answer. The answer is similar to another common question: which came first, the lighter or the matches? And like this question, most give an incorrect answer.
Despite looking like a more modern piece of technology, the lighter was created before matches, so it can be deduced that it was the pen that was invented before the pencil.
The pen
Ever since cavemen began scribbling buffalo on their cave walls with mud and their fingers, man has been destined to invent the pen. As early as 4000 BC, people began using raw ballpoint pens made from straws or pens dipped in liquid and they were used, in some form, until the 19th century, when the first steel-tipped pens and fountain pens were invented. The modern ballpoint pen was invented by Mr. Bíró of Hungary in 1938.
The pencil
It was the ancient Greeks and Romans who first used lead to mark lines for people to write with ballpoint pens and the Middle Ages (1500) saw people use lead or silver sticks to make marks on papyrus (old version of the paper). But it was the discovery of graphite in the late 1700s that introduced the pencil as we know it. Of course, it was a chemist, a Frenchman named Conte, who came up with the right mixture of graphite and clay that was perfect for writing, and it was an American named William Monroe, a cabinetmaker in the 19th century, who used his skills in carpentry. to invent a way to cut wood with enough precision to create something much like the modern pencil.
You’d think that with the advent of computers and computer accessories like mice, email, and things like touchscreen technology, it would only be a matter of time before pens and pencils became obsolete. After all, a lot of ink these days goes into printer inkjet cartridges.
But as half of society moves forward with its digital age, the other half are perfectly happy using pens, pencils, and paper for all their communications. Could they even be the greatest invention of all time? Where would we be without them?