Louis Braille Biography

Louis Braille was born on the year 1809 January 4. He was born in Coupvray, a small town near Paris, France. He was the inventor of the reading and writing system for the visually impaired person or blind. His approach is known worldwide by the braille system. He was an educator by his occupation. He also had an idea about music. He is famous for his significant contribution to society.

Early Life of Louis Braille

He lived with his parents and his three elder siblings in the countryside on three hectares of land. His father maintained a harness-making workshop. He was not blind from birth. As soon as he started to walk, he spent most of his father's workshop. Louis Braille age three, he was playing with some tools in his father's workshop. He was trying to make a hole in the tough leather, and that tool accidentally stabbed one of his eyes. A local physician of Paris treated him, but nothing could save that damaged portion. Slowly the wound became severely infected, and he lost his eyesight due to Sympathetic ophthalmia. Louis Braille age of five was completely blind due to infection in both eyes. At that time, he was young, and his parents made many efforts to raise their youngest child in a usual way.

At that time, there were not many resources available for the blind person; instead, he completed his education and got a scholarship to the France royal institute for blind youth. Inspired by Charles Barbier's system, he invented a new method that was more compact. He began to work on all this while he was a student.

In adulthood, he served as a professor in an institute, but most of his life essentially spent time on his system. His system was unused for many years, but it was recognized after his death. Now it has been chiefly adopted for languages all over the world.

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Louis Braille Education

From the Louis Braille Biography, one can know about his lifestyle in his childhood. Until the age of ten, he studied in Vouvray. His creative and bright mind impressed all local educators and priests. He was brilliant in his studies. He got a scholarship for The Royal Institute of Blind Youth, renamed to National institute of the blind, located in Paris. It provided a stable environment for him.

He became the first blind teacher in a New school for the blind in Paris, France. Later he became the first blind full professor in the school.

Teacher and musician:

Braille used to read many books and was also equally attentive in class. The letters were written on wet paper pressed in copper wire because of this complexity; the amount of information was minor in that book. He was brilliant in his studies. That is why he got his full professorship in the year 1833.

He had a good idea about music. Later in his life, he used to play the organ in church all around France. Because of his interest, he also added musical notation in his Braille system, known as Braille musical notation.

Publication by Louis Braille

He produced several books for blind people's education. Louis Braille’s book Method of writing words, music, and plain Song was revised in 1837. His original works remain still available in his birthplace. His monograph for a new method of teaching geometric figures, maps for blind people, was published in 1839. Louis Braille’s book is hope for blind people.

Later life

Though many people admired him, his writing system was not used in school, colleges for teaching purposes in his whole lifetime. It came to use after his death. People noticed the braille system after Louis Braille's Braille death.

Louis Braille’s Death 

Louis Braille’s death was due to tuberculosis. He had poor health conditions from his childhood, and his state worsened day by day. He had a persistent respiratory disorder, and that disease is the reason for his death. At that time, there were not many facilities available; there was no proper treatment for this. That is why he lived one year of his life with this disease. At the age of 40, his condition worsened, which is why he was forced to leave his teacher-ship position. After that, he was admitted to the Royal institution to the infirmary. He died at the age of 43 in the year 1852.

Invention by Braille:

Louis Braille’s invention created a significant change for blind people. At the age of 15, he invented a universal writing system and reading for blind people or visually impaired person education, and later it was named the Braille system.

Braille system: 

It is a tactile writing system for a visually impaired and blind person. It is used to write on embossed paper and named after its creator Louis Braille. This system also includes musical notation, first published in the year 1829. Then after that revised edition was published in the year 1837. The characters in this system are rectangular, called cells that are raised dots. The arrangement of these dots represents different alphabets. These alphabets are called Braille alphabets. A full braille system includes six raised dots in two columns and three dots in each column. There are 64 possible arrangements with these dots. It is read by passing one finger over these dots. This is helpful in education for a blind person.

Interesting Facts about Louis Braille:

• Louis Braille was not blind from birth. His father had a leather workshop, and once, he was playing with his father's tools. He was trying to make a hole in hard leather, and that tool stabbed him in the back of his one eye. Slowly this infection increased, and that caused his blindness.

• A noblewoman paid l Louis's education fee. At that time, blind people usually ended their lives on the road by begging others for living purposes. Only blind people, those who were born into wealthy families, could afford an education. A noble lady heard about him, and she paid all his fees.

• He learned everything by tracing the giant letters on books. In that book, one sentence is almost used to cover one page. Learned to read by using fingers that were used to touch over dotted raised letters. But for him, reading was not enough. He wanted to write too.

• Louis Braille got his inspiration from a retired soldier, Charles Barbier. He told the students about communication on the army campus. That method involved writing on a hard paper by punching dots in it through a sharp tool. This could be done in any place and that also without light. This could be done without noise. Louis got inspired by this and started his work in the braille system.

• He completed his work on the system at just 15 years old. After the invention of this, he tested his braille system with the help of the school's headmaster.

• The language system was not used for many years. School's director was worried that this language would allow a blind person to become completely independent, and there was no longer a need for teachers. He died at the age of 43, and after two years of his death, this system was finally accepted by The Royal Institute of Blind.