who invented the pencil

The invention of the pencil has multiple key moments and contributors. The earliest wooden pencil casing was invented in the 1560s by an Italian couple, Simonio and Lyndiana Bernacotti, who hollowed out juniper wood rods to hold graphite sticks. However, the modern pencil as we know it—including the mixture of powdered graphite with clay encased in wood—was invented in 1795 by French scientist Nicholas-Jacques Conté during the French Revolutionary Wars. Conté developed this method because England's naval blockade cut off France's supply of high-quality solid graphite, so he mixed powdered graphite with clay and fired it to form pencil leads. This innovation led to the pencils used today.