Movable type and the compass

Bi Sheng makes movable type from fired clay around 1040; Shen Kuo records it, and Korea later casts type in metal, printing with it by 1234. Shen Kuo also gives the first clear description of a magnetic needle used for navigation and notes that it does not point exactly at the pole — the earliest known observation of magnetic declination. Both technologies reach Europe later and have far larger effects there.