Editing Louis Braille

{{short description|French educator and inventor of the Braille system (1809–1852)}}
{{good article}} 
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Louis Braille
| image              = Braille.jpg
| alt                = refer to caption
| caption            = 
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1809|1|4|df=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Coupvray]], [[First French Empire]]
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1852|1|6|1809|1|4|df=y}}
| death_place        = Paris, [[Second French Republic]]
| resting_place      = {{ubl|[[Panthéon]], Paris|Coupvray}}
| resting_place_coordinates = 
| occupation         = {{hlist|Educator|inventor}}
| known_for          = [[Braille]]
| signature          = 
}}
'''Louis Braille''' ({{IPAc-en|b|r|eɪ|l}} {{respell|brayl}}; {{IPA|fr|lwi bʁɑj|lang}}; 4 January 1809 – 6 January 1852) was a French educator and the inventor of a reading and writing system named after him, [[braille]], intended for use by [[Visual impairment|visually impaired]] people. His system is used worldwide and remains virtually unchanged to this day.

Braille was blinded at the age of three in one eye as a result of an accident with a [[stitching awl]] in his father's [[Horse harness|harness]] making shop. Consequently, an infection set in and spread to both eyes, resulting in total blindness.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.biography.com/scholar/louis-braille|title = Louis Braille| date=26 June 2020 }}</ref> At that time there were not many resources in place for the blind, but he nevertheless excelled in his education and received a scholarship to France's [[Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles|Royal Institute for Blind Youth]]. While still a student there, he began developing a system of [[Touch|tactile]] code that could allow blind people to read and write quickly and efficiently. Inspired by a system invented by [[Charles Barbier]], Braille's new method was more compact and lent itself to a range of uses, including music. He presented his work to his peers for the first time in 1824, when he was fifteen years old.

In adulthood, Braille served as a professor at the Institute and had an [[avocation]] as a musician, but he largely spent the remainder of his life refining and extending his system. It went unused by most educators for many years after his death, but posterity has recognized braille as a revolutionary invention, and it has been adapted for use in languages worldwide.

==Early life==
[[File:Braille house04.JPG|thumb|left|Birthplace of Louis Braille in Coupvray|alt=A small two-story farmhouse]]
Louis Braille was born in [[Coupvray]], a small town about twenty miles east of Paris, on 4 January 1809.<ref>{{cite web |title=Who was Louis Braille |url=https://www.royalblind.org/national-braille-week/about-braille/who-was-louis-braille |website=Royal Blind |access-date=3 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408160409/https://www.royalblind.org/national-braille-week/about-braille/who-was-louis-braille |archive-date=8 April 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He and his three elder siblings – Monique Catherine (b. 1793), Louis-Simon (b. 1795), and Marie Céline (b. 1797)<ref>Mellor, p. 14.</ref> – lived with their parents, Simon-René and Monique, on three [[hectares]] of land and [[vineyard]] in the [[countryside]]. Simon-René maintained a successful [[Business|enterprise]] as a [[leatherer]] and maker of [[horse tack]].<ref name="Weygand282">Weygand, p. 282.</ref><ref name="Kugelmass13ff">Kugelmass (1951), pp. 13–23.</ref>

As soon as he could walk, Braille's time was spent playing in his father's workshop. At the age of three, he was playing with some of the tools, trying to make holes in a piece of leather with an [[Stitching awl|awl]]. [[Squinting]] closely at the surface, he pressed down hard to drive the point in, and the awl glanced across the tough leather and [[stabbed]] him in one of his eyes. A local [[physician]] bound and patched the affected eye and even arranged for Braille to be met the next day in Paris by a [[surgeon]], but no treatment could save the damaged organ. In agony, the young boy suffered for weeks as the wound became severely infected. He eventually lost sight in the other eye, likely due to [[sympathetic ophthalmia]].<ref name="Kugelmass13ff"/>{{Ref|fn_a|a}}

Braille survived the torment of the infection, but by the age of five he was completely blind in both eyes.<ref name="Marsan">{{Cite web |url=http://www.avh.asso.fr/rubriques/infos_braille/actes/Louis%20Braille%20-%20a%20brief%20overview.htm |title=Louis Braille: A Brief Overview |author=Marsan, Colette |year=2009 |publisher=Association Valentin Haüy |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150807133757/http://www.avh.asso.fr/rubriques/infos_braille/actes/Louis%20Braille%20-%20a%20brief%20overview.htm |archive-date=7 August 2015 }}</ref> Due to his young age, he did not realize at first that he had lost his sight, and often asked why it was always dark.<ref>Davidson, Margaret (1971): Louis Braille, the boy who invented books for the blind</ref> His parents made many efforts – quite uncommon for the era – to raise their youngest child in a normal fashion, and he prospered in their care. He learned to navigate the village and country paths with canes his father [[Hewing|hewed]] for him, and he grew up seemingly at peace with his disability.<ref name="Kugelmass13ff"/> Braille's bright and creative mind impressed the local teachers and [[priests]], and he was accommodated with higher education.<ref name="Weygand282"/><ref>Kugelmass (1951), pp. 24–39.</ref>
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== Blind education ==
Braille studied in [[Coupvray]] until the age of ten. Because of his intelligence and diligence, Braille was permitted to attend one of the first schools for blind children in the world, the Royal Institute for Blind Youth,<ref name=Encyclopedia>{{cite book|title=The World Book Student Discovery Encyclopedia, Vol. B2|year=2000|publisher=World Book Inc.|location=Chicago|isbn=978-0-7166-7400-9|pages=117}}</ref> since renamed to the [[Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles|National Institute for Blind Youth]] in Paris.<ref name=Farrell98>Farrell, p. 98.</ref> The last of his family's children to leave the household, Braille departed for the school in February 1819.<ref>Mellor, p. 26.</ref> At that time the Royal Institute was an underfunded, ramshackle affair, but it provided a relatively stable environment for blind children to learn and associate together.<ref>Kugelmass (1951), pp. 34–35.</ref><ref>Mellor, p. 29.</ref>

===Haüy system===
The children were taught to read using a system devised by the school's founder, [[Valentin Haüy]]. Not blind himself, Haüy was a philanthropist who devoted his life to helping the blind. He designed and manufactured a small library of books for the children by [[Paper embossing|embossing]] heavy paper with the raised imprints of [[Latin alphabet|Latin letters]]. Readers would trace their fingers over the text, comprehending slowly but in a traditional fashion which Haüy could appreciate.<ref name=Kugelmass3738>Kugelmass (1951), pp. 37–38.</ref>
[[File:Braille house07.JPG|thumb|right|Bust and awl exhibit at the Braille birthplace museum in Coupvray|alt=A bust of Braille next to items in a display case]]
Braille was helped by Haüy's books, but he also despaired over their lack of depth: the amount of information retained in such books was necessarily minor. Because the raised letters were made in a complex artisanal process using wet paper pressed against copper wire, the children could not hope to "write" by themselves. So that the young Louis could send letters back home, Simon-René provided him with an alphabet made from bits of thick leather. It was a slow and cumbersome process, but the boy could at least trace the letters' outlines and write his first sentences.<ref>Kugelmass (1951), p. 48.</ref>

The handcrafted Haüy books all came in uncomfortable sizes and weights for children. They were laboriously constructed, very fragile, and expensive to obtain: when Haüy's school first opened, it had a total of three books.<ref name=Kugelmass3738/> Nonetheless, Haüy promoted their use with zeal. To him, the books presented a system which would be readily approved by educators and indeed they seemed – at the time – to offer the best achievable results. Braille and his schoolmates, however, could detect all too well the books' crushing limitations.<ref name=Kugelmass3738/> Nonetheless, Haüy's efforts still provided a breakthrough achievement – the recognition of the [[sense of touch]] as a workable strategy for sightless reading. The Haüy system's main drawback, in the opinion of at least one author, was that it was "talking to the fingers with the language of the eye".<ref name=Farrell96>Farrell, p. 96.</ref>

===Teacher and musician===
Braille read 
Haüy's books repeatedly, and he was equally attentive to the oral instruction offered by the school. He proved to be a highly proficient student and, after he had exhausted the school's curriculum, he was immediately asked to remain a teacher's aide. By 1833, he was elevated to a full professorship. For much of the rest of his life, Braille stayed at the Institute where he taught history, geometry, and algebra.<ref name=Farrell98/><ref name=Olmstrom>Olmstrom, pp. 161–162.</ref>

Braille's ear for music enabled him to become an accomplished cellist and [[Organ (music)|organist]] in classes taught by [[Jean-Nicolas Marrigues]]. Later in life, his musical talents led him to play the organ for churches all over France. A devout [[Catholic Church|Catholic]],<ref>Mellor, p. 5.</ref> Braille held the position of organist in Paris at the [[Church of Saint-Nicholas-des-Champs, Paris|Church of Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.uquebec.ca/musique/orgues/france/snicolascp.html |title=Église Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs |language=fr, en |year=2011 |publisher=Universite du Quebec |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224132503/http://www.uquebec.ca/musique/orgues/france/snicolascp.html |archive-date=24 February 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> from 1834 to 1839, and later at the [[Church of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Paris|Church of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul]].<ref>Mellor, p. 78.</ref>

==Braille system==
{{See also|Braille}}

[[File:First version French braille code c1824.jpg|thumb|right|The first version of braille, composed for the [[French alphabet]]|alt=Letters of the alphabet printed in braille]]

===Origins===
In 1821, Braille learned of a communication system devised by [[Charles Barbier]]. Barbier, aware of its potential for helping the blind to read and write, wrote to the school to introduce his method.<ref name=Marsan/><ref name=RNIB>{{Cite web |url=http://www.rnib.org.uk/braille-and-other-tactile-codes-portal-braille-past-present-and-future/invention-braille |title=Invention of braille |year=2017 |publisher=Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170908083302/http://www.rnib.org.uk/braille-and-other-tactile-codes-portal-braille-past-present-and-future/invention-braille |archive-date=8 September 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> Barbier's invention was a code of up to twelve dots in two columns, impressed into thick paper. These impressions could be interpreted entirely by the fingers. Barbier's code of raised dots inspired Braille to develop a system of his own.<ref>Kugelmass (1951), pp. 117–118.</ref><ref>Farrell, pp. 96–97.</ref>

Braille was determined to invent a system of reading and writing that could bridge the gap in communication between the sighted and the blind. In his own words: "Access to communication in the widest sense is access to knowledge, and that is vitally important for us if we [the blind] are not to go on being despised or patronized by condescending sighted people. We do not need pity, nor do we need to be reminded we are vulnerable. We must be treated as equals – and communication is the way this can be brought about."<ref name=Olmstrom/>
[[File:Comparative Lettering Hauy-Barbier-Braille.tif|thumb|right|Three forms of the letters "A" and "Z"|alt=The same two letters printed in different formats]]

===Design===
Braille reworked Barbier's system by simplifying its form and maximizing its efficiency. He made uniform columns for each letter, and reduced the maximum of twelve raised dots to six. [[1829 braille|His first version]] used both dots and dashes. He published this version in 1829, but by the second edition in 1837 discarded the dashes because they were too difficult to read. Crucially, Braille's smaller cells were capable of being recognized as letters with a single touch of a finger.<ref name=Farrell98/>

Braille created his own raised-dot system using Barbier's [[slate and stylus]] tools. Barbier had donated many sets of these tools to the school. By soldering metal strips across the slate, Braille created a secure area for the stylus which would keep the lines straight and readable.<ref name=Farrell98/>

By these modest means, Braille constructed a robust communication system. "It bears the stamp of genius," wrote Dr. Richard Slating French, former director of the [[California School for the Blind]], "like the Roman alphabet itself".<ref>Bickel, p. 185.</ref>

===Musical adaptation===
The system was soon extended to include [[braille music|braille musical notation]]. Passionate about his own music, Braille took meticulous care in its planning to ensure that the musical code would be "flexible enough to meet the unique requirements of any instrument".<ref>Mellor, p. 82.</ref> In 1829, he published the first book about his system, ''Method of Writing Words, Music, and Plainsong by Means of Dots, for Use by the Blind and Arranged for Them''. Ironically this book was first printed by the raised letter method of the Haüy system.<ref name=Farrell99/><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.avh.asso.fr/rubriques/actualites/actualites.php?var=titre&infos=432 |title=Louis Braille 1809–1852 : un génie français |language=fr |year=2011 |publisher=Valentin Haüy Association |access-date=15 February 2014 }}</ref>

===Publications===
Braille produced several written works about braille and as general education for the blind. ''Method of Writing Words, Music, and Plainsong...'' (1829) was revised and republished in 1837;<ref name=AFBbooks>{{Cite web |url=http://www.afb.org/louisbraillemuseum/braillegallery.asp?FrameID=185 |title=Books in Braille |year=2013 |publisher=American Foundation for the Blind |website=Afb.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201035512/http://www.afb.org/louisbraillemuseum/braillegallery.asp?FrameID=185 |archive-date=1 December 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> his mathematics guide, ''Little Synopsis of Arithmetic for Beginners'', entered use in 1838;<ref name=AFBbooks/> and his monograph ''New Method for Representing by Dots the Form of Letters, Maps, Geometric Figures, Musical Symbols, etc., for Use by the Blind'' was first published in 1839.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EarDmAEACAAJ |title=''Nouveau procede pour representer des points la forme meme des letters, les cartes de geographie, les figures de geometrie, les caracteres de musiques, etc., a l'usage des aveugles'' |author=Braille, Louis |year=1839 |publisher=Institution royale des jeunes aveugles |language=fr }}</ref> Many of Braille's original printed works remain available at the Braille birthplace museum in Coupvray.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/museo_fr?ACTION=CHERCHER&FIELD_1=REF&VALUE_1=M0373 |title=Maison Natale de Louis Braille |year=2013 |publisher=Culture-Acte 2 |website=Culturecommunication.gouv.fr |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630160325/http://www.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/museo_fr?ACTION=CHERCHER&FIELD_1=REF&VALUE_1=M0373 |archive-date=30 June 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Decapoint===
''New Method for Representing by Dots...'' (1839) put forth Braille's plan for a new writing system with which blind people could write letters that could be read by sighted people.<ref name=AFBdeca>{{Cite web |url=http://www.afb.org/louisbraillemuseum/braillemediaviewer.asp?FrameID=186#main |title=Braille Invents His Code: Louis Invents Decapoint |year=2013 |publisher=American Foundation for the Blind |website=Afb.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803001017/http://www.afb.org/louisbraillemuseum/braillemediaviewer.asp?FrameID=186#main |archive-date=3 August 2017 |url-status=dead |access-date=11 August 2012 }}</ref> Called ''[[decapoint]]'', the system combined his method of dot-punching with a new specialized grill which Braille devised to overlay the paper. When used with an associated number table (also designed by Braille and requiring memorization), the grill could permit a blind writer to faithfully reproduce the standard alphabet.<ref>Weygand, p. 288.</ref>

After the introduction of decapoint, Braille assisted his friend [[Pierre-François-Victor Foucault]], who invented the Raphigraphe, a device that allowed for more rapid creation of letters made with raised points. Foucault's machine was hailed as a great success and was exhibited at the [[Exposition Universelle (1855)|World's Fair]] in Paris in 1855.<ref>Farrell, p. 121.</ref>

==Later life==
Dr. Alexandre René Pignier, principal at the school, supported Braille's work and allowed the teaching of Braille's system. However, Pignier was forced out of his position in 1840 by an ambitious younger teacher, Pierre-Armand Dufau, who opposed the teaching of Braille at the school. Fortunately, another teacher, Joseph Guadet, supported Braille, and the system was reintroduced in 1844, at the time of the opening of a new school building on the Boulevard des Invalides.<ref>Mellor, pp. 98-102.</ref>

Braille had always been a sickly child, and his condition worsened in adulthood. A persistent respiratory illness, long believed to be [[tuberculosis]], dogged him. Despite the lack of a cure at the time, Braille lived with the illness for 16 years. By the age of 40, he was forced to relinquish his position as a teacher. When his condition reached mortal danger, he was admitted to the infirmary at the Royal Institution, where he died in 1852, two days after he turned 43.<ref name="Marsan"/><ref name=Weygand289>Weygand, p. 289.</ref>

==Legacy==
[[File:Interior of Panthéon 9, Paris 29 September 2012.jpg|thumb|Tomb of Louis Braille, above [[Jean Perrin]]]]
[[File:Louis Braille, Panthéon de Paris 2012-10-11.jpg|thumb|Braille's memorial in [[Panthéon, Paris|the Panthéon]]|alt=A stone bust of Braille with an audiotronic memorial plaque]]
Because of the overwhelming insistence of the blind pupils, Braille's system was finally adopted by the Institute in 1854, two years after his death.<ref name=Farrell99>Farrell, p. 99.</ref><ref>Lorimer, pp. 26ff.</ref> The system spread throughout the French-speaking world, but was slower to expand in other places. However, by the time of the first all-European conference of teachers of the blind in 1873, the cause of braille was championed by Dr. [[Thomas Rhodes Armitage]] and thereafter its international use increased rapidly. By 1882, Dr. Armitage was able to report that "There is now probably no institution in the civilized world where braille is not used except in some of those in North America."<ref>Farrell, pp. 103–104.</ref> Eventually even these holdouts relented: braille was officially adopted by schools for the blind in the United States in 1916, and a universal braille code for English was formalized in 1932.<ref name=Reynolds318>Reynolds, p. 318.</ref>

New variations in [[braille technology]] continue to grow, including such innovations as [[Refreshable Braille display|braille computer terminals]]; [[RoboBraille]] email delivery service; and [[Nemeth Braille]], a comprehensive system for mathematical and scientific notation. Almost two centuries after its invention, braille remains a system of powerful and enduring utility.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.brailleauthority.org/article/evolution_of_braille-part1.pdf |title=The Evolution of Braille |year=2011 |publisher=[[Braille Authority of North America]] |website=Braillauthority.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630085707/http://www.brailleauthority.org/article/evolution_of_braille-part1.pdf |archive-date=30 June 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Honors and tributes===
The immense personal legacy of Louis Braille was described in a 1952 essay by [[T.S. Eliot]]:

{{quote|Perhaps the most enduring honor to the memory of Louis Braille is the half-conscious honor we pay him by applying his name to the script he invented – and, in this country [England], adapting the pronunciation of his name to our own language. We honor Braille when we speak of ''braille''. His memory has in this way a security greater than that of the memories of many men more famous in their day.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Eliot |first=T.S. |author-link=T.S. Eliot |date=December 1952 |title=Some thoughts on Braille |journal=The New Outlook for the Blind |volume=46 |issue=10 |pages=287–288 }}</ref>}}

Braille's childhood home in Coupvray is a [[Monument historique|listed historic building]] and houses the Louis Braille Museum.<ref name=Marsan/> A large monument to him was erected in the town square<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://louisbrailleschool.org/resources/pictures/coupvray/louis-braille-monument/ |title=Louis Braille Monument |year=1996 |publisher=Louis Braille School, Edmonds, WA |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170608222424/http://louisbrailleschool.org/resources/pictures/coupvray/louis-braille-monument/ |archive-date=8 June 2017 |url-status=dead |access-date=25 September 2011 }}</ref> which was itself renamed Braille Square.<ref>Farrell, p. 97.</ref> On the centenary of his death, his remains were moved to the [[Panthéon, Paris|Panthéon]] in Paris.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kugelmass |first=J. Alvin |date=24 February 1952 |title=That Those Who Are Blind May Read |page=BR26 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1952/02/24/archives/that-those-who-are-blind-may-read.html |access-date=15 February 2014 |id={{ProQuest|112520405}}}}</ref> In a symbolic gesture, Braille's hands were left in Coupvray, reverently buried near his home.<ref>Mellor, p. 8.</ref><ref name="Jernigan">{{Cite web |url=http://www.blind.net/alternative-techniques/braille/facts-about-louis-brailles-birthplace.html |title=Facts About Louis Braille's Birthplace |author=Jernigan, Kenneth |author-link=Kenneth Jernigan |year=1995 |publisher=[[National Federation of the Blind]] |website=Blind.net |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171008032042/http://www.blind.net/alternative-techniques/braille/facts-about-louis-brailles-birthplace.html |archive-date=8 October 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:An Indian two rupee coin minted in honour of Louis Braille's 200th birth anniversary (1809-2009).jpg|thumb|right|An Indian two rupee coin minted in honour of Louis Braille's 200th birth anniversary (1809-2009)|alt=An Indian two rupee coin minted in honour of Louis Braille's 200th birth anniversary (1809-2009)]]
Statues and other memorials to Louis Braille can be found around the world. He has been commemorated in postage stamps worldwide,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nuessel |first=Frank |date=November 1985 |title=Louis Braille Helped the Sightless to See |journal=[[The American Philatelist]] |volume=99 |pages=1005–1007 }}</ref> and the [[asteroid]] [[9969 Braille]] was named for him in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schmadel |first=Lutz D. |author-link=Lutz D. Schmadel |author2=International Astronomical Union |title=Dictionary of minor planet names |year=2003 |publisher=Springer-Verlag |location=Berlin; New York |isbn=978-3-540-00238-3 |page=715 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KWrB1jPCa8AC&pg=PA715 }}</ref> The ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' lists him among the "100 Most Influential Inventors Of All Time".<ref>{{Cite book |title=The 100 Most Influential Inventors of All Time |editor-last=McKenna |editor-first=Amy |year=2010 |publisher=Britannica Educational Publishing |location=New York |isbn=9781615300426 |pages=94–96 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GbmcAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA94 }}</ref>

A [[Google Doodle]] for Louis Braille's 197th birthday in 2006 was shown on Google's homepage, spelling "Google" in braille.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Louis Braille's 107th Birthday Doodle - Google Doodles |url=https://doodles.google/doodle/louis-brailles-107th-birthday/ |access-date=2024-08-17 |website=doodles.google |language=en}}</ref>

The 200th anniversary of Braille's birth in 2009 was celebrated throughout the world by exhibitions and symposiums about his life and achievements. Among the commemorations, Belgium and Italy struck 2-euro coins, India released a set of two commemorative coins (Rs 100 and Rs 2), and the USA struck a one dollar coin, all in Braille's honor.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nbbmuseum.be/2009/10/2euro.htm |title=New 2-euro commemorative coin on display in the Museum |year=2009 |publisher=National Bank of Belgium |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109070841/http://www.nbbmuseum.be/en/2009/10/2euro.htm |archive-date=9 November 2017 |url-status=dead |access-date=22 March 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.thebrailroom.com/invented-brail/italy-2-euro-commemorative-coin-2009-louis-braille-wmv |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402232025/http://www.thebrailroom.com/invented-brail/italy-2-euro-commemorative-coin-2009-louis-braille-wmv |archive-date=2 April 2012 |title=Italy 2 euro commemorative coin 2009 Louis Braille |year=2009 |publisher=Brailleroom }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.indianstampghar.com/2010/02/commemorative-coins-india-louis-braille/ |title=Commemorative Coins – India – Louis Braille |year=2010 |publisher=India Stamp Ghar |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019081313/https://www.indianstampghar.com/2010/02/commemorative-coins-india-louis-braille/ |archive-date=19 October 2017 |url-status=usurped }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.usmint.gov/coins/coin-medal-programs/commemorative-coins/louis-braille-bicentennial |title=Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar |date=2019 |publisher=United States Mint |website=USmint.gov |access-date=7 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190708072711/https://www.usmint.gov/coins/coin-medal-programs/commemorative-coins/louis-braille-bicentennial |archive-date=8 July 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[World Braille Day]] is celebrated every year on Braille's birthday, 4 January, since 2019.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://nfb.org/blog/celebrate-world-braille-day-raising-awareness |title=Celebrate World Braille Day by Raising Awareness |date=2 January 2018 |publisher=National Federation of the Blind |website=Nfb.org |access-date=8 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412190546/https://nfb.org/blog/celebrate-world-braille-day-raising-awareness |archive-date=12 April 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N18/448/71/PDF/N1844871.pdf|title=United Nations – Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 17 December 2018}}</ref>

===In popular culture===
Because of his accomplishments as a young boy, Braille holds a special place as a hero for children, and he has been the subject of a large number of works of juvenile literature.<ref>See [http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=kw%3ALouis+Braille&fq=mt%3Ajuv&qt=advanced&dblist=638 ''Worldcat.org''] for a complete list of Braille-related literature for children and young adults.</ref> Other appearances in the arts include the American TV special ''Young Heroes: Louis Braille'' (2010);<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://deaftvchannel.com/blog/interesting-films/young-heroes-louis-braille/ |title=Young Heroes: Louis Braille |year=2010 |publisher=Deaftvchannel.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222035202/http://deaftvchannel.com/blog/interesting-films/young-heroes-louis-braille/ |archive-date=22 February 2014 }}</ref> the French TV movie ''Une lumière dans la nuit'' (2008) (released in English as ''The Secret of Braille'');<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1342341/ |title=''Une lumière dans la nuit'' (TV 2008) |date=3 May 2008 |publisher=IMDb |access-date=15 February 2014 }}</ref> and the dramatic play ''Braille: The Early Life of Louis Braille'' (1989) by Lola and Coleman Jennings.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Jennings |first1=Lola H. |last2=Jennings |first2=Coleman A. |title=Braille: the early life of Louis Braille|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V_O3x1E2Xe8C |year=1989|publisher=Dramatic Publishing|isbn=978-1-58342-426-1}}</ref> In music, Braille's life was subject of the song ''Merci, Louis'', composed by the Halifax singer-songwriter Terry Kelly, chair of the Canadian Braille Literacy Foundation.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://terry-kelly.com/special-projects/merci-louis/ |title=Terry Kelly: Merci, Louis |publisher=Deaftvchannel.com |access-date=7 March 2016 }}</ref> ''The Braille Legacy'', a musical which tells the story of Louis Braille, directed by [[Thom Southerland]] and starring [[Jérôme Pradon]], debuted at the [[Charing Cross Theatre]] in April 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://charingcrosstheatre.co.uk/theatre/the-braille-legacy |title=The Braille Legacy |website=Charing Cross Theatre |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002050008/http://charingcrosstheatre.co.uk/theatre/the-braille-legacy |archive-date=2 October 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=n|colwidth=24em}}
* {{note|fn_a| a:}} It remains uncertain which eye was actually struck first. Most accounts of Braille's accident omit reference to left or right. Braille's American biographer J. Alvin Kugelmass wrote that it was the left eye, but C. Michael Mellor and Lennard Bickel state definitively that it was the right.

== References ==

{{Reflist|2}}

==Bibliography==
*{{Cite book |title=Triumph Over Darkness: The Life of Louis Braille |last=Bickel |first=Lennard |year=1989 |publisher=Ulverscroft |location=Leicester |isbn=978-0708920046 }} (also [[large print]])
*{{Cite book |title=The Story of Blindness |last=Farrell |first=Gabriel |year=1956 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge |oclc=263655 }}
*{{Cite book |title=Louis Braille: Windows for the Blind |last=Kugelmass |first=J. Alvin |year=1951 |publisher=[[Julian Messner]] Inc. |location=New York |oclc=8989771 }}
*{{Cite book |title=A critical evaluation of the historical development of the tactile modes of reading and analysis and evaluation of researches carried out in endeavours to make the braille code easier to read and to write (Ph. D. thesis) |last=Lorimer |first=Pamela |year=1996 |publisher=University of Birmingham |oclc= 49619181 |url=http://www.braille.org/papers/lorimer/title.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330204406/http://www.braille.org/papers/lorimer/title.html |archive-date=30 March 2012 }}
*{{Cite book |last=Olstrom |first=Clifford E. |title=Undaunted By Blindness |publisher=[[Perkins School for the Blind]] |location=Watertown, MA |isbn=978-0-9822721-9-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k9K77s1IRgoC |access-date=4 December 2011 |date=10 July 2012 }}
*{{Cite book |last1=Reynolds |first1=Cecil R. |last2=Fletcher-Janzen |first2=Elaine |title=Encyclopedia of Special Education: A-D |year=2007 |publisher=John Wiley and Sons |isbn=978-0-471-67798-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wdNpBchvdvQC&pg=PA318 }}
*{{Cite book |title=Louis Braille: A Touch of Genius |last=Mellor |first=C. Michael |year=2006 |publisher=National Braille Press |location=Boston |isbn=978-0-939173-70-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/louisbrailletouc0000mell |url-access=registration }}
*{{Cite book|last=Weygand |first=Zina |title=The Blind in French Society: From the Middle Ages to the century of Louis Braille |year=2009 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location=Stanford, CA |isbn=978-0-8047-5768-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WeR3w30IAiMC&pg=PA282 }}

==Further reading==
* [http://www.worldcat.org/title/vie-et-loeuvre-de-louis-braille-inventeur-de-lalphabet-des-aveugles-1809-1852/oclc/299733373/editions?editionsView=true ''La vie et l'oeuvre de Louis Braille: Inventeur de l'alphabet des aveugles (1809–1852)''] by Pierre Henri. Paris: Pr. universit. de France (1952). {{in lang|fr}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links|commons=Louis Braille}}
*[http://www.afb.org/louisbraillemuseum Louis Braille Online Museum – American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)]
* Original pages from ''[https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/braille/thefirstpublicationofthebraillecode.html#top Method of Writing Words, Music, and Plainsong...]'', 1829 edition, at the [[National Federation of the Blind]]
* Text of ''[https://archive.org/details/NouveauProcdPourReprsenterParDesPointsLaFormeMmeDesLettres New Method of Representing by Dots...]'' (2999) at Archive.org
*[http://www.avh.asso.fr/fr Valentin Haüy Association] {{in lang|fr}}

{{Braille}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Braille, Louis}}
[[Category:19th-century French inventors]]
[[Category:French Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:1809 births]]
[[Category:1852 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century deaths from tuberculosis]]
[[Category:French blind people]]
[[Category:Blind musicians]]
[[Category:Braille]]
[[Category:Creators of writing systems]]
[[Category:Burials at the Panthéon, Paris]]
[[Category:Tuberculosis deaths in France]]
[[Category:French male organists]]
[[Category:Blind scholars and academics]]
[[Category:Blind educators]]
[[Category:Educators of the blind]]