1. Forum
  2. Usenet
  3. SCI.LANG

  • Louis Braille born (4-1-1809)

    From Ross Clark@21:1/5 to All on Thu Jan 4 08:30:18 2024
    United Nations World Braille Day, says Crystal.

    It seems that one Charles Barbier had, in 1815, devised a system of
    raised dots pressed into paper, so that a text could be read with the
    fingers. This was intended for military use (soldiers in battle could
    read messages at night without raising a light). It was never so used,
    but was eventually taken up by the Institut National des Jeunes
    Aveugles, where L.B. (then aged 15) was a student. He simplified the dot patterns so they could be rapidly read with a single finger, and made
    other improvements to produce the system which bears his name.

    PTD in _The World's Writing Systems_ (p.886) calls this "the first
    effective digitization of writing".

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Aidan Kehoe@21:1/5 to All on Thu Jan 4 08:47:36 2024
    Ar an ceathrú lá de mí Eanair, scríobh Ross Clark:

    United Nations World Braille Day, says Crystal.

    It seems that one Charles Barbier had, in 1815, devised a system of raised dots
    pressed into paper, so that a text could be read with the fingers. This was intended for military use (soldiers in battle could read messages at night without raising a light). It was never so used, but was eventually taken up by
    the Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles, where L.B. (then aged 15) was a student. He simplified the dot patterns so they could be rapidly read with a single finger, and made other improvements to produce the system which bears his name.

    PTD in _The World's Writing Systems_ (p.886) calls this "the first effective digitization of writing".

    That is very important, in retrospect. Wikipedia suggests that the optical telegraph codes of the French Revolution predate it.

    --
    ‘As I sat looking up at the Guinness ad, I could never figure out /
    How your man stayed up on the surfboard after fourteen pints of stout’
    (C. Moore)

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)