louis braille was the inventor -- was the inventor of a worldwide system used by blind and visually impaired people for reading and writing. braille is reads by passing the fingers over characters made up of an arrangement of one to six embossed points. it has been adapted to almost every known language.

brailles young life

he became blind at the age of 3, when he accidentally poked himself in the eye with a stitching awl, one of his fathers workshop tools. the injury wasn't thought to be serious until it got infected. braille's other eye went blind because of symphathetic ophthalmia.
at the young age of 10, braille earned a scholarship to the national institute for the blind in paris.
one of the first of it's kind in the world. braille a bright and creative students, become a talented cellist and organist in his time at the school, playing the organ for churches all over france. at the school the children were taught basic craftsman skill and simple trades. they were also taught how to read by feeling raised letters

development of the braille

in 1821 charles barbier a former captain in the french army, visited the school. barbier shared his invention called " night writing " a code of 12 raised dots and a number of dashes that let soldiers share top secret information on the battlefield without having to speak. the code was too difficult for louis to understand and he later changed the numbers of raised dots to 6 to form what we today call braille. the same year louis braille began inventing his raised dot system with his father stitching awl, the same implement that with which he had blinded himself, finishing at the age of 15. braille later extended his system to include the notation for mathematics and music. the first book in braille was published in 1829 under the title Method of Writing Words, and plain Songs by MEans of dots for the use by the blind and arranged for them.
braille became a well respected teacher at the institute. although he was admired and respeced by his pupils, his writing was not taught at the institute during his lifetime. the air at the institute was foul and he died in paris of tuberculosis in 1851 at the age of 43: his body was disinterred in 1952 and honored with re-interment on the pantheon in paris. his system was finally recognized in france 2 years after his death.