MCQ Detailed View

The invention of the ballpoint pen is credited to Laszlo Biro, a Hungarian-Argentine inventor. Before the ballpoint pen, people mostly used fountain pens, which were messy, required frequent refilling, and often smudged. Laszlo Biro wanted to create a better, cleaner writing tool that was reliable and easy to use.

Laszlo Biro noticed that newspaper ink dried quickly and did not smudge. He thought that if he could use similar ink in a pen, it would solve many writing problems. However, the thick ink used in printing could not flow smoothly through the thin nibs of traditional pens. To solve this, Biro invented a new type of pen with a tiny ball in the tip that rolled as the pen moved, picking up ink from a cartridge and transferring it to paper evenly. This was the beginning of the modern ballpoint pen.

Biro patented his invention in 1938. During World War II, the British government bought the rights to the pen for use by air force officers, as it worked better than fountain pens at high altitudes. Eventually, the ballpoint pen became popular worldwide because it was cheap, convenient, and long-lasting.

Though others had worked on similar ideas before, Laszlo Biro was the first to create a practical and successful ballpoint pen. Today, ballpoint pens are one of the most commonly used writing instruments around the world, all thanks to Biro’s creative thinking and problem-solving.

Key Points:

• Inventor: Laszlo Biro, Hungarian-Argentine journalist and inventor


• Year of Patent: 1938


• Main Feature: A rolling ball tip that delivers thick, fast-drying ink


• Reason for Popularity: Clean, easy to use, and no smudging


• Used By: Widely adopted by military and civilians during and after WWII