Editing Louis Braille (section)

==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>