Who invented Braille, the raised-dot reading and writing system published in 1829?

Louis Braille invented Braille, the raised-dot reading and writing system published in 1829.

Louis Braille was blinded in an accident during childhood and later attended the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris. There he encountered a military code developed by Charles Barbier that used raised dots and dashes for communication in darkness.

Braille adapted the idea into a compact six-dot cell. Different arrangements of the dots represent letters, numbers, punctuation, and other symbols. The system allowed readers to identify characters by touch far more efficiently than earlier embossed-letter methods.

Braille published his first explanation of the system in 1829. The system was initially slow to gain official acceptance, but it eventually became an international standard for tactile literacy. Braille is not a language; it is a writing system that can represent many languages and musical or mathematical notation.