Louis Braille

Louis Braille  was the inventor of braille a worldwide system used by blind and visually impaired people for reading and writing. Braille is read by passing the fingers over characters made up of an arrangement of one to six embossed points. It has been adapted to almost every known language.

Braille was born on January 4, 1809 in Coupvray, France. In 1821, Charles Barbier, a former Captain in the French Army, visited Braille’s school. Barbier shared his invention called "night writing", a code of 12 raised dots . The Barbier’s method is difficult to learn. 

Macedonia Post to commemorate his birthday by issued the single stamp features his photo and his name in Braille  on year 2009.

 

Louis  Braille  began  inventing  his  raised-dot system with  his father's stitching awl, the same implement with which he had blinded  himself,  finishing at age 15, in 1824. Inspired by the wooden dice his father gave to him, his system used only six dots and corresponded to letters, whereas Barbier's used 12.

Monaco Post also issued the single stamp features his photo to commemorate his birthday on year 2009.

The six-dot system allowed the recognition of letters with a single fingertip apprehending all the dots at once, requiring no movement or repositioning which slowed recognition in systems requiring more dots. These dots consisted of patterns in order to keep the system easy to learn.