The Awl and the Alphabet: Louis Braille’s Quiet Revolution
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Show Notes
Title:
Description: In this episode, we examine the life of Louis Braille, who lost his sight at age three after a tragic accident with a stitching awl in his father’s workshop. We follow his journey to the Royal Institute for Blind Youth, where he moved beyond Valentin Haüy’s cumbersome raised-letter books to refine Charles Barbier’s "night writing" into the efficient six-dot code used today. Tune in to hear about his tenure as a professor and organist, the institutional suppression of his code by Director Pierre-Armand Dufau, and the enduring legacy that led to his interment in the Panthéon—minus his hands, which remain buried in his hometown of Coupvray.