Louis Braille

Profession: Braille Inventor

Biography: Louis Braille was a French educator and inventor of the braille reading and writing system for the blind. He developed this system in the early 19th century, despite being blinded himself at the age of three in an accident with a stitching awl in his father's workshop.

Braille was admitted to the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris at the age of ten, where he learned using the existing system of embossed Latin letters devised by Valentin Haüy. Dissatisfied with the limitations of Haüy's system, Braille was inspired by a communication system invented by Charles Barbier and began developing his own system of raised dots.

By the age of fifteen, in 1824, Braille had largely completed his system, which was more compact and efficient than Barbier's, using six raised dots instead of twelve. In 1829, he published the first book about his system: "Method of Writing Words, Music, and Plain Songs by Means of Dots, for Use by the Blind and Arranged for Them."

Braille's system was extended to include braille musical notation, reflecting his passion for music and his role as an accomplished cellist and organist. Despite initial resistance from educators, Braille's system was officially adopted by the Institute in 1854, two years after his death.

Braille served as a professor at the Institute and had spent much of his life refining and extending his system, which went on to be adapted for use in languages worldwide.

Born: January 4, 1809
Birthplace: Coupvray, France
Star Sign: Capricorn

Died: January 6, 1852 (aged 43)
Cause of Death: Tuberculosis