1809-1852

French educator who developed a system of printing and writing by which the blind could write in relief and read by touch. That system, braille, which consists of a six-dot code in various combinations, was officially named after him in 1834. Blinded at the age of three, he studied at the Paris Blind School, where he later became an instructor. He was an accomplished musician, and developed a separate code for reading and writing music and mathematics.