Louis Braille was born on January 4, 1809 in the home of a poor saddlemaker in France. When he was 3 years old, he accidentally missed playing with a knife and stabbed one eye. Soon after, he infected the other eye, causing blindness in both eyes.

The parents did not give up on the blind child's upbringing. His father formed letters with nails on wooden boards, taught him to read, and later sent him to school. In 1819, Blair was sent to the Royal School for the Blind in Paris. At that time, textbooks for blind students were printed in enlarged letterpress letters, which were heavy and bulky, slow to touch, more difficult to write, and the number of textbooks was small, and most lessons had to be dictated.

One day in 1821, the school principal invited retired naval officer Charles Babier to teach and demonstrate a "pronunciation" method to students. This is a kind of "night writing" symbol, with two lines of 6 raised dot symbols to express phonetic symbols. It was created specifically for transmitting orders and strengthening communication during night operations. Blair, who was only 12 years old, was inspired. He excitedly said to Babier: "The method of replacing lines with bumps can definitely create new Braille..."

Create 6-point Braille

Since then, Blair has devoted himself to the study of this braille. In 1824, Blair, who had just turned 15, was inspired by the human body and drew up a six-point plan arranged in different ways: 6 bumps, plus blanks, a total of 64 changes, forming a regular French alphabet scheme.

In 1829, Blair added mathematical symbols and musical symbols to the original plan, which was officially finalized in 1837. The following year, the world's first Blair Braille book was published.

However, Blair's 6-point Braille was opposed by school leaders, who insisted on continuing to use the original Braille. Blair had to fight tenaciously against the conservative forces and became depressed. In January 1852, the Royal School for the Blind in Paris was forced to adopt the popular Blair Braille. When the news reached Blair's deathbed, he was dying and felt relieved that the results of his hard work had finally been recognized. He passed away soon after at the age of 43.

Finally recognized by the world

After Blair's death, the 6-point Braille he invented was gradually recognized by the world. In 1887, Blair's 6-point Braille was internationally recognized as official Braille. In memory of this outstanding creator, in 1895, people used his surname, Blair, as the international common name for Braille.

In order to commemorate the great man who created light for the blind, the French government and blind associations around the world jointly donated money to erect a road monument-"Blair" Street in the village where Blair was born, and also built a Blair Memorial Hall in the village.

In the 1950s, the French government moved Blair's remains to the Pantheon in Paris, the burial place of the most famous heroes in French history. Huge banners in front of the temple read about the important contributions these great men made to all mankind. Like them, Louis Blair's exploits will forever be engraved on the monuments of human history.

Comment: People who have made important contributions to mankind will eventually be remembered