Louis Braille was three when an accident in his father's harness workshop blinded him. At ten he won a place at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris, where books used huge raised letters that were slow and heavy. When a soldier, Charles Barbier, shared a military "night writing" code of raised dots, Braille saw its potential and simplified it. By 15 he had a six dot system fingers could read at speed. France only officially adopted it in 1854, two years after his death.
Louis Braille
Braille Inventor
EXTRA-ORDINARY TRAIT
DETERMINATION
JFDI PILLAR
F — FOCUS
COUNTRY & REGION
France (Europe)
LIFESPAN
1809 – 1852
GENDER
Man
EDITION
No.013
✦ DEFINING MOMENT
Guiding a young pupil's fingers across raised dots at the Paris school for blind children.
✦ ARCHIVAL DOSSIER
The Story
✦ DID YOU KNOW?
He also created a dot code for music, still used by blind musicians today.
✦ YOUR TURN
What would you build if you refused to accept the slow way?
COLLECTIBLE EDITIONS
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