Dotty genius

Published date04 January 2021
Date04 January 2021
Publication titleDaily Star (England)
It comprises a system of dots that combine to make up letters of the alphabet, numbers and punctuation marks.

But did you know it started off as military code - or that you can get a braille tattoo? Here NADINE LINGE gets a feel for 15 fascinating facts...

1Born today in 1809, Louis Braille lost his sight aged five after he accidentally stabbed himself in the eye with one of his father's tools. But he excelled at education and by the age of just 15 had devised his system of tactile code.

2 It was inspired by a military idea called "night writing", which allowed soldiers to communicate in the dark without speaking or using candles by pressing dots into paper.

3 The system features rectangular blocks called cells that contain six tiny bumps called raised dots. The combination of the dots distinguish one character from another and take in 26 symbols for letters and 37 for numbers and other symbols.

4 Braille takes up more space than the printed pages of a regular book. So Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix runs to 13 volumes and the Bible is 45 volumes long.

5 Braille is not actually a language, but a tactile alphabet that can be used to write almost any lingo, including Arabic and Hebrew.

6 In 2000, a US company designed a system of dots on floor tiles dubbed "braille for feet" giving readable warnings for the blind.

7 An asteroid discovered by NASA in 1992 was later named 9969 Braille.

8 Classic games including Uno, Monopoly and Scrabble have braille versions, while adapted playing cards and even Lego Braille bricks are also available.

9 Blind musician Stevie Wonder uses the system and made a...

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