Akram Youth Obstacles, Do they hold you back or Spur you on ? | Page 18

Science & Inventions
Braille
is a writing
system used by
the blind and
the visually
impaired. It is
traditionally
written with
embossed
paper.

The Braille system was developed in 1829
by Louis Braille and it was adopted
officially in France in 1854. The system is
based on embossed dots, and each Braille
character, also called a cell, is composed
of 3 columns of 2 dots. The Braille system
represented a great innovation, on an
existent invention of Charles Barbier's
code. Barbier was a Captain of the French
Army, and he developed the system to
allow soldiers to communicate during the
night, without making sounds and
without using light. Braille refined the
'code' and created smaller symbols that
could be encompassed by the finger.
18 | January 2015

You may be wondering though –
how did Braille think of actually inventing
such a device and why? Well, the story is
that while playing in his father's leather
workshop when he was 4, Louis tried to
use a sharp,