Louis Braille Inventor of a Gift By: Catherine Haynes

Louis Braille Louis Braille was born in 1809 in the little town of Coupvray, France. His parents were Simon-Rene’ and Monique Braille. His father was the saddle and harness maker in the village of Coupvray. He was the youngest of four children.

The Accident When Louis was a little boy he loved to watch his father work. His father told him never to touch his tools. When Louis was only three years old, he stabbed his right eye with one of his father’s tools. Infection spread to his other eye and Louis became completely blind.

The Royal Institute for Blind Youth When Louis was ten years old he was sent to attend The Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris, France. This was the first school for blind children. Later he became a teacher at the school.

Louis, The Student Louis studied history, grammar, arithmetic, and geography. His favorite thing was music and he was naturally gifted. He learned to play the piano and organ by ear. At the end of each school year Louis won prizes in academics and music.

Embossing Some of Louis Braille’s first lessons were in embossing. Embossing is a system of reading and writing where large letters of the alphabet are pressed into thick sheets of waxed paper. The raised impressions on the other side of the paper could be read by tracing their outlines with a finger. The problem with embossing was that one page of embossed print contained only a few sentences so embossed books were too big to be carried around and expensive to print. Also, outside of the school, embossed books were hard to find.

Sonography In 1821 Charles Barbier, a captain in the French Army, spoke to the students at Louis’ school. He had invented a system for soldiers to communicate at night without a sound. It was called sonography or night writing. He thought his invention could be useful to the blind.

Louis Braille’s Invention Louis and his classmates were very excited about Barbier’s invention, but soon they found that it had many problems and was too hard. Between the ages of 13 and 16, Louis used Barbier’s idea to create his own system using raised dots. Finally, Louis discovered that the problem with Barbier’s system was that his symbols were based on sounds and there were too many sounds in the French language. He changed his symbols to represent letters of the alphabet and invented a simple code that allowed him to represent any letter of the alphabet within the space of a fingertip.

Louis Braille’s Original French Alphabet

The plaque on the outside of the home Louis Braille was born in reads; “In this house on January 4, 1809 was born Louis Braille the inventor of the system of writing in raised dots for use by the blind. HE OPENED THE DOORS OF KNOWLEDGE TO ALL THOSE WHO CANNOT SEE.”

What I Learned I learned that before Louis Braille’s invention, blind people were known as dumb. He invented braille so that he and others could do what sighted people can do. He helped many people like Helen Keller and today people all over the world are thankful for Louis Braille’s invention. This is a picture of Helen Keller reading braille.

Louis Braille’s Fans People all over the world send him messages that say “Thank you Louis Braille for your gift.” Here are some of those messages: Louis Braille:Thank you so much your invention you were truly amazing individual, happy 200th birthday! - MFPSMFPS Oh the great soul! Your are the light of the Blind and the door to knowledge. I offer my homage to you on your bicentennial Birth Day. - Nabin SatapathyNabin Satapathy DESCANSA EN PAZ Y DIOS TE BENDIGA SIEMPRE. - Gabriel TobonGabriel Tobon