I.

Inventor

 Louis Braille (4/1/1809 – 6/1/2852) was the inventor of the Braille alphabet,
which is used for the blind
 He was born in Coupvray, a small village near Paris – the capital of France.


- He has 3 siblings and his father Simon-René, who was a skilled tanner and
saddler.
- When he was three, as he was trying to punch a hole in a piece of leather that was
too big and heavy for him, the awl broke and landed in his left eye. His eyes were
infected and he became blind.
- The blind boy Louis Braille went to school at Coupvray, from 1816 to 1818.
- In 1819, Braille was accepted into the Royal Academy for blind youth in Paris
-  From the moment he entered the school, Braille proved to be a model student:
He excelled in all subjects and won many awards, whether it was for work or
study.

-Around 1821, Louis Braille became aware of Charles Barbier de La Serre and his
invention, and immediately, he wanted to make some improvements. But no one
noticed his improvements.

- In 1824, he created “chữ nổi” (tự dịch). It can represent 26 letters by 6 dots
- Around 1825, the alphabet was invented.

- In 1827, Braille attempted to translate the first book. He used his letters to
indicate music notes, math symbols

- In 1828, he officially became a Music, Geography, Math and Grammar teacher at

the Royal Academy of blind youth

-        In 1829, he published his first book.

=> It could be said that the bookmarked the birth of the Braille system.

- Louis Braille was also a talented organist. In 1833, he became the pianist at Saint
Nicolas church/cathedral.

- In 1834, he named his invention “Braille alphabet”

- Around 1835, Braille's family noticed that he began to cough more and more =>
reduced teaching time, by 1840 he only taught music classes.

- By 1844, he had decided to stop teaching. In the same year, he launched his
invention

- Launched the first braille typewriter in 1847 with his friend Pierre Foucault.

- In the years 1840 to 1850 there was a "braille crisis" after the rector of the
Academy, a strong supporter of Braille, was forced into early retirement for being
accused of corrupting the youth by teaching history. The successors began to limit
the use of braille in music but this work was not successful. Then in 1847, braille
gradually regained its position => Proving that one could not do without it.

- On the night of December 4 to 5, 1851, he suffered bleeding in his lungs, from

which all work was forced to stop.

- He died of tuberculosis on January 6 in 1852

- He was buried on January 10 in Coupvray, according to the wishes of the family.

- In 1868, Braille alphabet was officially used for the blind in France.
    

- Nearly a century later, the remains of Louis Braille have been moved to the
Panthéon, where the great people of France are buried. However, when moving the
grave, in memory of the village where he was born, his two arms were kept and
buried in the tomb in Coupvray.

- Today, when mentioning Braille, everyone remembers the famous writing system
named after him. Few people know, however, that Braille does not rest on the
glory he has created.

II. Invention
1. Cấu tạo 
+ Reading Braille: Braille is arranged in cells. A braille “cell” is made up of six
dots that fit under the fingertips with each letter using a different pattern. Each cell
represents a letter, a word, a combination of letters, a numeral or a punctuation
mark. For reference purposes, a particular combination may be described by
naming the positions where dots are raised, the positions being universally
numbered 1 through 3 from top to bottom on the left, and 4 through 6 from top to
bottom on the right
+ Writing Braille: Slate and stylus
Many compare it to paper and pencil. A slate is a metal or plastic guide that opens
with a hinge on one end and is available in many different shapes and sizes. The
stylus is a small tool; only about 3 inches long, with a metal pointer at one end and
a handle at the other end.
2. Cách dùng
 How to read Braille: 
 Moving their fingertips from left to right across the lines of dots,
using 1 or both hands. 
 By using the index fingers of both the left and right hands, a Braille
reader can reduce the time it takes to read a passage of Braille text. →
one technique to increase reading speed and comprehension 
 How to write Braille: 
 A braille writer which looks like an old-fashioned typewriter; only has
6 keys

 A slate and a stylus: Paper will be inserted into the slate, and the
stylus will be used to punch raised dots onto the paper. In order to
produce correct Braille with a slate, it must be written from right to
left
3. Chức năng + lợi và hại