Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2023
Abstract
A pencil with artificial lead, a seemingly ordinary object used daily, was a remarkable discovery of its time, the production of which is still attributed to two men, the Austrian Josef Hardtmuth and the French Nicolas-Jacques Conté. Even though they were separated by several hundred kilometres, within five years they came up with an almost identical method of making the modern pencil.
The article sheds light on the fates of both men and their prerequisites for the invention of artificial lead, including irrefutable evidence proving the true originator of this writing instrument.