Coupvray, France 1809, Louis Braille was born. A playful boy, that by the age of three while playing with his father's tools, from his parents harness shop, the tool snapped in his face, hitting and damaging his eyes, making the child blind for life.
During the years of 1819 Captain Charles Barbier, a French army officer, created a code called: 'night writing', and it was intended for night-time battlefield communications between troops. Braille entered the school for the blind in Paris at the same year, and learning about the system of tangible writing, using dots, invented by Captain Charles Barbier, Braille studied a new way of communication.
In1824, Braille developed a system with 'six-dot cell'. In 1837 a complete system of communication was elaborated to aid, identifying 63 different dots patterns, or characters, that are possible within the six-dot cell. Braille system was immediately accepted and used by his fellow students, although the system was not officially accepted by the school until 1854, two years after Braille's death.
'Braille' became the name of the communication system itself, as a universally accepted system of writing used by blind individuals. 'Writing in Braille" is the main thought system at blind schools all over the world. Today writing Braille by hand can be achieved by using a slate device consisted of two metal plates hinged together to permit a sheet of paper to be inserted between them. Braille can also be produced by special machines with six keys, one for each dot in the Braille cell. A electric Braille machine is able to emboss the letters, similar to a computer machine process.
Braille in 1824 by designing a new way of writing, and adopting
new ways of communication between blind individuals, changed the world for millions of people during his life time and for future generations ahead of his time.
