M. W.

Literature 2

Louis Braille

Louis Braille

Louis Braille was born on January 4, 1809 in Coupvray a small village near Paris. Louis was the fourth child in his family. He became blind at the age of three when playing in his father's harness making shop and a sharp tool for making holes slipped and hurt his eye. The wound got infected and the infection spread to both eyes and he was blind. He was very bright and stayed in school even though he was blind. When he was ten he got a scholarship to go to the Royal Institution for Blind Youth in Paris. The classes were mainly lecturing and the library only had 14 raised print books that were very hard to read and too expensive to get any more. He also played the piano and organ in school.  In 1821 a former soldier visited the school, Charles Barbier, he had invented “night writing” a code of 12 dots that soldiers could use to send messages so they could read them without light. The code was too hard for soldiers to understand but not too hard for Louis Braille, then 12 years old. By the age of 15 Louis had trimmed the 12 dots to 6 and gotten it perfected. In 1829 the first Braille book was published. By 1837 Louis had added symbols for math and music. Louis Braille died January 6, 1852 at the age of 42. He died of Tuberculosis. Braille wasn’t widely used until after Louis’ death. Now almost every country uses Braille.