Dec 27 2008
Napoleon and the blind
Did you know, that Napoleon I, the French emperor (1769-1821) was indirectly responsible for the development and invention of ‘Braille” the most popular script used to communicate by and for the blind?
Napoleon was foremost a military leader, a general and conqueror. He was involved in 42 battles, until his final defeat in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 at the hands of the British and sent into exile. His primary concern was about improving the conditon and capabilities of his armies in order to achieve victory. One reported incident concerns the desastrous outcome of an attack, when one of his soldiers lighted a match at night in order to read a message. His action revealed the positon of the soldiers to the enemy. Napoleon therefore sought for a means to enable his soldiers to communicate silently and without the need of a light at night.
To that end he instructed Charles Barbier de la Serra, a captain in his army in the early 1800 to invent a system which would achieve that aim. Barbier invented a ‘ruler’ similar to a slate, which consisted of squares and a 2 digit code which could be read noiselessly and ‘blind’ by finger touch. The drawback was, that it was very slow and difficult to manage. The soldiers, who needed to make use of the code, were not able to comprehend and learn the system, so it was ever used for the purpose it was orignally invented for.
Barbier then took his code to the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris in 1821. Louis Braille, who had lost his eyesight through an accident at an early age, was student there. He was extremeyl bright and, even before meeting Barbier, had experimented with methods of ’written’ communication for the blind. When he became acquainted with Barbier’s code he immediately recognised the potential as well as the drawbacks. He proceeded to adapt and refine the method which is to this day known and used as “Braille”.
