Braille, Louis (1809-52), French teacher of the blind, born in Coupvray. He himself was blind from the age of three and in 1818 went as a foundling to the National Institute for the Young Blind in Paris. Soon showing marked ability in both science and music, he became famous in Paris as an organist and violoncellist. In 1828 Braille began teaching the blind in the institute, and the following year he conceived the idea of modifying the Barbier "point writing" system, used for coded army messages, to enable the blind to read. Point writing consists of embossed dots and dashes on cardboard; the Braille system derived from it is used successfully today, in slightly modified form, in many countries.

Braille System, method of printing books for use by the blind, consisting of a system of raised dots embossed in paper by hand or machine and read by touch. Each letter, number, and punctuation mark is indicated by the number and arrangement of one to six dots in a cell, or letter space, two dots wide and three dots high. Musical notation also can be transcribed into Braille. The characters are embossed from the back of the paper, working in reverse direction, and are read from the face of the paper in normal reading direction. The blind can transcribe Braille on a slate by using a stylus or on a Braillewriter (which resembles a typewriter) by striking keys.

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