Valentin Haüy (pronounced ; 13 November 1745 – 19 March 1822) was the founder, in 1785,
of the first school for the blind, the Institute for Blind Youth in Paris (now
Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles
Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles (''National Institute for Blind Children'' or ''Royal Institution for Blind Youth''), in Paris, was the first special school for blind students in the world, and served as a model for many subsequent schools ...
, or the ''National Institute for the Young Blind'', INJA). In 1819,
Louis Braille
Louis Braille (; ; 4 January 1809 – 6 January 1852) was a French educator and the inventor of a reading and writing system, named braille after him, intended for use by visually impaired people. His system is used worldwide and remains virtua ...
entered this school.
Life
![Statue de Valentin Haüy](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Statue_de_Valentin_Ha%C3%BCy.jpg)
Haüy was born into a family of weavers.
His father, a full-time loomer, also held the job of ringing the
Angelus
The Angelus (; Latin for "angel") is a Catholic devotion commemorating the Incarnation of Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ o ...
bells in a local
Premonstrant Abbey.
The abbey monks educated Valentin and he became a skilled
linguist
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
speaking ten different languages of the day.
He also studied
ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
and
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
.
In 1783, he gained the title "interpreter to the king",
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
. In 1786, he was the interpreter of the King, to the Admiralty and the City Hall.
He was a member of the Office of Writing.
Haüy's impulse to help the blind started in 1771, after he stopped for lunch in a cafe on the
Place de la Concorde
The Place de la Concorde () is one of the major public squares in Paris, France. Measuring in area, it is the largest square in the French capital. It is located in the city's eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées.
...
, Paris. There, he witnessed an ensemble of people from the Quinze-Vingts
hospice
Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life by ...
for the blind being mocked during the religious street festival, "Saint Ovid's Fair". They were given
dunce cap
Dunce is a mild insult in English meaning "a person who is slow at learning or stupid". The etymology given by Richard Stanyhurst is that the word is derived from the name of the Scottish Scholastic theologian and philosopher John Duns Scotus.
...
s, oversized cardboard glasses and told to play their instruments which resulted in a
cacophony
Phonaesthetics (also spelled phonesthetics in North America) is the study of beauty and pleasantness associated with the sounds of certain words or parts of words. The term was first used in this sense, perhaps by during the mid-20th century and ...
of noises. He decided to found a school with
Charles-Michel de l'Épée
Charles-Michel de l'Épée (; 24 November 1712 – 23 December 1789) was a philanthropic educator of 18th-century France who has become known as the "Father of the Deaf".
Overview
Charles-Michel de l'Épée was born to a wealthy family in Versail ...
.
In May 1784, at
Saint-Germain-des-Prés
Saint-Germain-des-Prés () is one of the four administrative quarters of the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France, located around the church of the former Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Its official borders are the River Seine on the no ...
, he met a young beggar,
François Lesueur; he was his first student. He developed a method of raised letters, to teach Lesueur to read, and compose sentences. He made rapid progress, and Haüy announced the success, in September 1784 in the ''
Journal de Paris
The ''Journal de Paris'' (1777–1840) was the first daily French newspaper.(7 October 2014)The first French daily: Journal de Paris History of JournalismAndrews, ElizabethBetween Auteurs and Abonnés: Reading the Journal de Paris, 1787–1789 '' ...
'', then receiving encouragement from the
French Academy of Sciences
The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV of France, Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific me ...
.
With the help of the Philanthropic Society Haüy founded the Institute for Blind Youth (''Institution des jeunes aveugles''), in February 1785.
Building on the philanthropic spinning workshop for the blind, it received the support of
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
and became the Royal institution of Blind Children on 26 December 1786. Its purpose was to educate students and teach them manual work: spinning, and letterpress. During the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
, it was taken over by the state on 28 September 1791. It became the National Institute of blind workers in a
Celestine monastery.
Valentin Haüy was active in the political life of his time, and was secretary of the
National Constituent Assembly elections of 1792, then civil commissioner. He was arrested on 5
Prairial III (24 May 1795), and he was released on 11 by the
Committee of Public Safety, arrested again on 20 by the
National Convention
The National Convention (french: link=no, Convention nationale) was the parliament of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for the rest of its existence during the French Revolution, following the two-year National ...
.
He was released on 19 Fructidor, he joined the
Panthéon Club
, named_after = Panthéon
, motto =
, predecessor = Jacobin Club
, merged =
, formation = 6 November 1795
, dissolved = 27 February 1796
, merger =
, type ...
, under the
French Directory
The Directory (also called Directorate, ) was the governing five-member committee in the French First Republic from 2 November 1795 until 9 November 1799, when it was overthrown by Napoleon, Napoleon Bonaparte in the Coup of 18 Brumaire and r ...
. Under the
French Consulate
The Consulate (french: Le Consulat) was the top-level Government of France from the fall of the Directory in the coup of 18 Brumaire on 10 November 1799 until the start of the Napoleonic Empire on 18 May 1804. By extension, the term ''The Con ...
, he was listed as a "terrorist".
In 1802, he was retired from management of Blind Asylum, and granted a pension.
In February, 1802, he started a private school in the rue Sainte-Avoye.
In September 1806, he moved to
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, to found a school at the request of
Alexander I of Russia
Alexander I (; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1801, the first King of Congress Poland from 1815, and the Grand Duke of Finland from 1809 to his death. He was the eldest son of Emperor Paul I and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg.
The son of ...
.
He returned to Paris, in 1817, to live with his brother,
René Just Haüy
René Just Haüy () FRS MWS FRSE (28 February 1743 – 1 June 1822) was a French priest and mineralogist, commonly styled the Abbé Haüy after he was made an honorary canon of Notre Dame. Due to his innovative work on crystal structure and hi ...
, who is considered a founder of modern
mineralogy
Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifacts. Specific studies within mineralogy include the proces ...
.
![Valentin Haüy et Abbé René Just Haüy](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Valentin_Ha%C3%BCy_et_Abb%C3%A9_Ren%C3%A9_Just_Ha%C3%BCy.JPG)
He is buried, with his brother René, in
Père Lachaise Cemetery
Père Lachaise Cemetery (french: Cimetière du Père-Lachaise ; formerly , "East Cemetery") is the largest cemetery in Paris, France (). With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Notable figures ...
in Paris.
Legacy
In 1889,
Maurice de La Sizeranne created an association dedicated to helping the blind and visually impaired, named for him.
See also
*
Louis Braille
Louis Braille (; ; 4 January 1809 – 6 January 1852) was a French educator and the inventor of a reading and writing system, named braille after him, intended for use by visually impaired people. His system is used worldwide and remains virtua ...
*
Association Valentin Haüy
*
Musée Valentin Haüy
*
Slate and stylus, History
*
fr :Association Valentin Haüy
References
;Attribution
Further reading
*
*
External links
Valentin Haüy AssociationMusée Valentin Haüy*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hauy, Valentin
1745 births
1822 deaths
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery
Educators from Paris
Linguists from France
People from Oise