Pierre-François-Victor Foucault (1797–1871) was the inventor in 1843 of the first printing machine for

braille Braille ( , ) is a Tactile alphabet, tactile writing system used by blindness, blind or visually impaired people. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille displays that connect to computers and smartphone device ...

, the decapoint. Raphigraphe

Life

A pupil of the

Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles The Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles (''National Institute for Blind Youth'') is a Special education, special school for Visual impairment, blind students in Paris, France. It is considered the first Blindness and education, school for the b ...

, Foucault married

Thérèse-Adèle Husson Born into an upper-middle-class family in 1803, Thérèse-Adèle Husson was a French writer in the post-Revolutionary period. At the age of nine months, she became blind as a result of smallpox. She wrote more than a dozen children's novels. S ...

, a blind author, in 1826. This marriage gave birth to two daughters. After his wife's death in 1831, following a fire, he married a seamstress (non blind) in 1832, Adélaïde Louise Juteau. This allowed him to become a resident of the Quinze-Vingts (marriages between blind people were prohibited), which gave him the financial possibility to collaborate with

Louis Braille Louis Braille ( ; ; 4 January 1809 – 6 January 1852) was a French educator and the inventor of a reading and writing system named after him, braille, intended for use by visually impaired people. His system is used worldwide and remains virt ...

The raphigraphe

His invention was awarded a platinum medal by the

Société d'encouragement pour l'industrie nationale The Société d'encouragement pour l'industrie nationale (; ) is an organization established in 1801 to support French industry. Over the years it has provided prizes and support to inventors, promoted transfer of technology and management techniq ...

, then he showed it at

The Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition that took ...

(1851) in London.

References

External links

Louis Invents Decapoint
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foucault, Pierre-François-Victor 1797 births 1871 deaths 19th-century French inventors Braille technology