Louis

Louis Braille

  • Birth

    Louis Braille was born in Coupvray, France. He and his three elder siblings Monique Catherine Josephine Braille, Louis-Simon Braille and Marie Céline Braille lived with their mother, Monique, and father, Simon-René on three hectares of land and vineyards in the countryside.
  • Period: to

    Louis Braille

    Louis Braille was a French educator and inventor of a system of reading and writing for use by the blind or visually impaired. His system remains known worldwide simply as braille.
  • Blindness

    At the age of three, the child was toying with some of the tools, trying to make holes in a piece of leather with an awl. Squinting closely at the surface, he pressed down hard to drive the point in, and the awl glanced across the tough leather and struck him in one of his eyes. In agony, the young boy suffered for weeks as the wound became severely infected; an infection which then spread to his other eye, likely due to sympathetic ophthalmia.
  • Studies

    Braille studied in Coupvray until the age of ten. Because of his combination of 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, since renamed to the National Institute for Blind Youth in Paris. Braille, departed for the school in February 1819.
  • The Braille system

    At the age of 13 , Braille created the reading system for the blind, but it was gradually perfected.
  • illness

    Louis Braille with 26 years began to suffer symptoms of tuberculosis, the illness which would lead to death.
  • His work

    From the 31 years his health deteriorated dedicated only to teach blind students and working as organist at various convents. He was not married or was aware of the existence of loving relationships. Biographers agree that Louis Braille was a good, very generous and deeply religious man.
  • Died

    He died at the age of 43 years, a cause of their illness. His invention was not recognized until after his death.