Louis Braille
                     LOUIS 
BRAILLE
INTRODUCTION
Louis Braille is the creator of braille a code that 
enables blind and visually impaired people to read and 
write independently. His transformative system is still 
used today by people who have a visual impairment.
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EARLY LIFE
Louis Braille, born 4 January 1809, was from a small 
town in France called Coupvray. He and his three 
siblings lived with their parents, Monique Braille and 
Simon-René Braille. Louis’ father worked as a village 
saddler.
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EYE INFECTION
As a young boy, Louis often spent time playing in his father’s workshop. 
One day, aged three, he was attempting to make holes in a piece of 
leather with an awl. As he pressed down, the sharp pointed tool slipped 
and struck him in one eye.
Louis’ damaged eye could not be treated and in the weeks that followed 
the young boy’s eye became badly infected. The infection spread to his 
other eye. By the time he was five years old, Louis was completely blind in 
both eyes.
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NIGHT WRITING
In 1821, Louis learned of ‘night writing’ – a tactile 
communication system devised by Captain Charles 
Barbier of the French army. Intended for transmitting 
battlefield communications in darkness, night writing 
used a code of dots and dashes set on thick paper. 
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CODE FOR BLIND 
PEOPLE
It seems Louis, who was a very bright student, was inspired by 
Barbier’s complicated system and he set about simplifying it so it 
could be more user friendly for blind people. 
In 1824, by the time he was 15, he had trimmed Barbier’s 12 dots 
into six and found 63 ways to use a six-dot cell in an area no bigger 
than a fingertip. He also extended his code for music and later 
mathematics.
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CARRIER 
In his mid-twenties Louis began teaching history, algebra 
and geometry at the Royal Institution for Blind Youth. 
His ear for music enabled him to become an accomplished 
cellist and organist. Between 1834 and 1839 he held the 
position of organist in Church of Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs 
and later at the Church of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul.
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SCEPTICISM ABOUT 
THE CODE
But there was scepticism about Louis’ braille code and despite 
its popularity with blind pupils it was strongly contested by 
sighted teachers and there was much resistance to its use. 
This meant that blind students had to study braille alone and in 
their own time. Even at the Royal Institution where Louis studied 
and taught, braille was not on the curriculum until 1854.
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THE BRAILLE ERA
Aged 40, Louis had to leave his teaching post at the 
Institute due to the worsening of a long-term 
respiratory illness. He moved back to his home town of 
Coupvray. He died 6 January,1852, at the Royal 
Institution’s infirmary.
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THE BRAILLE ERA 
CONT.
Braille was finally introduced at the Royal Institution 
two years later, urged on by Louis Braille’s blind pupils. 
By the late 19th century braille had expanded to 
countries all over the world.
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RECOGNITION
In 1952, the French government finally recognised Louis Braille’s 
achievements. 
His body was exhumed from the village cemetery in Coupvray and 
reburied in the Pantheon in Paris, where other famous French figures 
including Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau are also laid to rest. 
Louis’ hands were buried in Coupvray.
World Braille Day is celebrated every year on 4 January - Louis’ 
birthday.
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