Louis Braille was born in Coupvray, a small town near Paris, France, to Simon-René Braille, a leather craftsman, and Monique Baron. He was the youngest of four children. His early childhood was spent in his father's workshop, a place that would unfortunately lead to a life-altering accident.

At the age of three, while playing in his father's workshop, Louis Braille accidentally stabbed himself in the eye with an awl. The injury became infected, and despite medical intervention, the infection spread to his other eye, resulting in complete blindness by the age of five.

Despite his blindness, Louis Braille was a bright and eager student. He attended the local village school in Coupvray, where he learned by listening intently and memorizing information. Recognizing his intelligence and determination, the village priest and teachers provided him with extra support, allowing him to keep up with his sighted peers. His success demonstrated the need for more formal education for the blind.

At the age of ten, Louis Braille was admitted to the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris, one of the first schools of its kind in the world. While the institute offered some educational opportunities, the methods used were limited and frustrating. Students relied heavily on raised letters, a cumbersome and slow system that allowed only a select few books to be produced.

A pivotal moment occurred when Charles Barbier, a French army officer, visited the Royal Institute and presented his system of 'night writing,' a tactile code developed for soldiers to communicate silently at night. While complex and flawed, Barbier's system, based on 12 raised dots, sparked Braille's inspiration.

Recognizing the limitations of Barbier's 'night writing,' Louis Braille dedicated himself to refining and simplifying the code. By the age of fifteen, he had significantly reduced the number of dots needed, creating a more efficient and adaptable system based on a six-dot cell. This revolutionary system allowed for the representation of letters, numbers, punctuation marks, and even musical notation.

Braille formally published his system in 1829 in a book titled "Method of Writing Words, Music, and Plain Songs by Means of Dots, for Use by the Blind and Arranged for Them." This publication marked a significant step towards wider acceptance and implementation of the Braille system.

Throughout his life, Louis Braille worked as a teacher and musician at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth. He tirelessly advocated for the adoption of his system, facing resistance from administrators who favored the traditional raised-letter method. He continued to refine and expand the Braille system, making it more versatile and user-friendly.

Louis Braille died from tuberculosis at the age of 43. Sadly, he did not live to see his system widely adopted during his lifetime. Although recognized by his students, his revolutionary code was not officially adopted by the Royal Institute until two years after his death.

Two years after his death, the Braille system was officially adopted by the Royal Institute for Blind Youth, a testament to its effectiveness and the tireless advocacy of Braille's supporters. This marked a turning point, paving the way for the widespread adoption of Braille across the globe.

By 1868, Braille began spreading out of France to become the world's premier reading and writing system, adapted to most languages in the world, providing access to literacy and knowledge for millions of blind and visually impaired people worldwide.