LOUIS BRAILLE (1809 - 1852)
Educationist, born in Coupvray, NC France. Blind from the age of three following an accident with an awl, at 10 he entered the Institution des Jeunes Aveugles in Paris. He studied organ playing, and became professor of the Institute in 1826.
In 1829 he simplified a system of raised-point writing first devised by Charles Barbier for use on the battlefield called ‘Night Writing’. Using an awl, he reduced the number of dots from 12 to 6 which, arranged in different positions, represented the letters of the alphabet, thus enabling the blind to both read and write.