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Invention of the ballpoint pen

L谩szl贸 B铆r贸 was sick of smudging the ink from his fountain pen and so he invented the ballpoint pen in 1938.

In 1938, L谩szl贸 B铆r贸, a Hungarian journalist, invented the ballpoint pen, because he was sick of smudging the ink from his fountain pen.

Inspired by the rollers of the printing press at his newspaper, he came up with the idea for a small ball at the end of the pen, which would stop ink from leaking.

Thanks to a chance meeting with the Argentine president Agust铆n Justo, L谩szl贸 was invited to Argentina to manufacture his pen.

They soon took off and now around 15 million of them are sold every day around the world.

Rachel Naylor speaks to L谩szl贸鈥檚 daughter, Mariana B铆r贸.

(Photo: Ballpoint pens. Credit: Bernard Annebicque/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images)

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