Bicentenary of the Birth of Louis Braille
January 4, 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Louis Braille, inventor of the Braille writing system for blind people.
Born on January 4, 1809 in the town of Coupvray, about forty kilometers from Paris, Louis Braille seriously injured his left eye at the age of 3 while playing with an awl in the shop of his father who was a saddler. The infection spreads to the right eye. Louis the child gradually loses his sight. At the age of 10, his parents enrolled him in the Royal Institution for Young Blind People, founded in 1785 by Valentin Haรผy, in Paris.
In 1821, Charles Barbier de la Serre, who was a retired captain, visited the Royal Institute for Young Blind People and presented to the Director a night writing system intended first to exchange information between soldiers during the night, then adapted for use by the blind.
Braille, who was only 13 years old, took hold of the system and tried to perfect it. In the morning he studied and in the evening he devoted himself to research into his own alphabetical system which was developed at the end of 1824. In 1828, Louis Braille, who was already teaching at the Royal Institute for Young Blind People, received the title of professor.
However, it was in 1829 that he published the โprocess for writing words, music and plain chant using dots, for the use of the blind and arranged for themโ. With this publication the Braille system was born.
The definitive development of the system in question dates from 1837, when Louis Braille published the second edition of his process. His system was then an alphabet reproduced on that of the clairvoyants and it gave real access to culture. It was easy to decipher and its characters could be understood without moving a finger.
Ill from the age of 26, Louis knew the nature of his illness and only gave music lessons. On December 5, 1851, a profuse hemorrhage forced him to stop all activity and take to bed. He died on January 6, 1852.
A century after his death, the remains of the benefactor of humanity joined the Pantheon to rest with the great figures who left indelible marks in the history of the world.
Born on January 4, 1809 in the town of Coupvray, about forty kilometers from Paris, Louis Braille seriously injured his left eye at the age of 3 while playing with an awl in the shop of his father who was a saddler. The infection spreads to the right eye. Louis the child gradually loses his sight. At the age of 10, his parents enrolled him in the Royal Institution for Young Blind People, founded in 1785 by Valentin Haรผy, in Paris.
In 1821, Charles Barbier de la Serre, who was a retired captain, visited the Royal Institute for Young Blind People and presented to the Director a night writing system intended first to exchange information between soldiers during the night, then adapted for use by the blind.
Braille, who was only 13 years old, took hold of the system and tried to perfect it. In the morning he studied and in the evening he devoted himself to research into his own alphabetical system which was developed at the end of 1824. In 1828, Louis Braille, who was already teaching at the Royal Institute for Young Blind People, received the title of professor.
However, it was in 1829 that he published the โprocess for writing words, music and plain chant using dots, for the use of the blind and arranged for themโ. With this publication the Braille system was born.
The definitive development of the system in question dates from 1837, when Louis Braille published the second edition of his process. His system was then an alphabet reproduced on that of the clairvoyants and it gave real access to culture. It was easy to decipher and its characters could be understood without moving a finger.
Ill from the age of 26, Louis knew the nature of his illness and only gave music lessons. On December 5, 1851, a profuse hemorrhage forced him to stop all activity and take to bed. He died on January 6, 1852.
A century after his death, the remains of the benefactor of humanity joined the Pantheon to rest with the great figures who left indelible marks in the history of the world.