Louis Braille is a boon to the blind. He has made life easy for the blind. Most of us might be aware of the fact that, it was Louis Braille, who was the inventor of the Braille system – the script with which the blind could read. Louis Braille brought the entire world for the blind to see and gave them a new lease of life.
History of Louis Braille
Louis Braille was born on January 4, 1809 in Coupvray,France. In his short life of 43 years (Braille died on January 6, 1852 Paris, France) he achieved everything a scholar
His brilliance can be gauged by the fact that, only at a tender age of 10, Braille was successful in earning a scholarship to the National Institute for the Blind in Paris. This achievement was one of its kinds in the entire world. However, it should be said that the others around him were blind in the real sense as they could not see the brilliance of the young Louis.
Braille system
In the Braille system, he made use of only 6 raised dots. The limited number of dots made it easy to feel all of them with a single fingertip touch. It was in 1829, that Louis Braille published his first book on his new invention, which was titled, “Method of Writing Words, Music, and Plain Songs by Means of Dots, for Use by the Blind and Arranged for Them.”
As days went by, Braille became a teacher of great repute and admiration. However, the sad thing is that, the writing and reading system which he developed so painstakingly never got official any recognition, as long as lived. It was only in 1854, two-year after his death, that the Government of France gave the script a official recognition.
Even after 159 years of his death, Louis Braille continues to give eyesight to the blind!
