Historical Figure
Louis Braille
1809–1852
French educator and inventor of braille (1809–1852)
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Biography
Louis Braille was a French educator and the inventor of a reading and writing system named after him, braille, intended for use by visually impaired people. His system is used worldwide and remains virtually unchanged to this day.
Timeline
The story of Louis Braille, told in moments.
Enters the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris at age ten. Students learn to read by tracing raised letters with their fingers. It's painfully slow. A single page takes minutes. Braille starts looking for something better.
Develops his six-dot reading system at 15. Based on a 12-dot military code invented by Charles Barbier for soldiers to read messages in the dark. Braille cuts it in half. Six dots. Sixty-three combinations. A fingertip can read an entire cell at once.
Publishes the first braille book. The school's director opposes the system. Sighted teachers can't read it. They see it as a threat. Braille keeps teaching it to students in secret. The students prefer it overwhelmingly.
Dies of tuberculosis in Paris at 43. France doesn't officially adopt braille until two years after his death. His remains are moved to the Pantheon in 1952. They leave his hands in Coupvray.
Artifacts (15)
Birth Centenary of Louis Braille, Commemorative Issue
Cyprus Post, Republic of Cyprus Κυπριακά Ταχυδρομεία, Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία
The works of Robert Louis Stevenson (IA worksofrobertlou14stev)
Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894
The Stethoscope Vol. 3 No. 13, 28 March 1945 (IA Stethoscope313450328)
U.S. Naval Hospital Seattle
Abraham Lincoln (IA abrahamlinco2671schu)
Schurz, Carl, 1829-1906 Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 Whittier, John Greenleaf, 1807-1892 Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882 Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894 Lowell, James Russell, 1819-1891 Watterson, He
1878 Annual Reports of the Ontario Institution for the Education of the Blind (IA 1878annualreport0000onta)
Ontario Institution for the Education of the Blind
Annual Report of the American Printing House for the Blind (IA annualreportofa1895amer)
American Printing House for the Blind
Rust Craft publishers- a case study in public relations. (IA rustcraftpublish00paus)
Pausner, Joseph Jay
The Bible in the life of the Indians of the United States (IA bibleinlifeofind00moffiala)
Moffett, Thomas Clinton, b. 1869
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