On January 4, 1809, Louis Braille was born in Coupvray, France. At the age of 3 he scratched himself in the eye with an awl. The injury became infected, and he went blind. At the age of 10 he went to a school for blind children, where fourteen books made of raised copper letters and paper were available for him to read. Braille was visited at the school in 1821 by Charles Babier, who had been charged by Napoleon to design a communication system for soldiers to use silently at night. Babier’s solution at the time was called “night writing”, and it involved memorizing a complex chart of characters (represented by twelve raised dots) that was too difficult for common usage. At only 15 years old, Louis Braille simplified the system down to each letter being represented by a pattern of six raised dots. Braille writing, as it is called, is the primary reading language of ten percent of the visually impaired school age children in the United States (others use auditory reading, do not read at all, or learn to read print despite their limitations).
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braille
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Braille
http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID=15&DocumentID=4398
On January 4, 1809, Louis Braille, the inventor of the Braille writing system for the blind, was born in Coupvray, France. Braille writing allows blind people to read books and newspapers so that they can access information that would normally be harder to obtain.
You guys are awesome! Had no clue about Louis. Enjoy reading, everyday. Peace.