A good (not great) e xample for THE GREATEST INVENTION EVER!!! Project Braille

1. A good (not great) example for THE GREATEST INVENTION EVER!!! ProjectBraille Braille is a system of touch reading and writing for the blind. It contains raised dots that represent letters of the alphabet and contains punctuation marks and symbols to show letter groupings.1 Louis Braille created a Braille printing press in 1847

2. Why is the invention important to me? In college, I worked on a project to create chemistry labs for a student in high school who was blind. He was extraordinarily bright and really wanted to take a chemistry course. The high school could not find a way of allowing him to take the course in fear that he would not be able to complete the lab component of the course. I spent a semester designing labs that he would be able to do for the topics that the high school teacher had designed labs for. I think that braille is an AMAZING invention!

3. How has this invention impacted society? What are the benefits? What are the disadvantages? • Blind people can: • Review and study written words1 • Be aware of different written conventions such as spelling, punctuation, paragraphing, and footnotes1 • Have access to a wide range of reading materials1 • Pursue hobbies and cultural enrichment with such materials as music scores, hymnals, playing cards, and board games1 • Be a part of a general education classroom • Write • Use Braille thermometers 2

4. How does the invention relate to chemistry? In order for this invention to have been created, paper must have been made (which manipulates matter) Louis Braille went blind because of an infection that occurred in his eyes. This infection was a chemical reaction that took place in his eyes. Braille thermometers have been replaced by talking thermometers. 2 Talking thermometers are helpful for the visually impaired as well as the blind chemists. Many older chemists have difficulty reading fine print and determining the correct reading on a thermometer. There are also talking calculators, light probes, voltmeters, clocks, and watches for use in the laboratory. There are indented liquid dispensers and a liquid level detector that beeps when the liquid reaches the desired level.2

5. Where did the invention come from? Was there a need? Was there an interest? What caused the inventor the desire to create it? Louis Braille at the age of three picked up an awl, the sharp tool slipped from his hand and the point hit Louis in the eye. Infection set in and spread through both eyes. His vision went from foggy shapes to complete darkness He learned how to “tap-touch” his way around a school for the blind at an early age. He learned how to play piano and read. Blind reading in the early 1800’s consisted of expensive tablets containing raised letters made of wood, wax and even pins. The school had very few books. When he met captain Charles Barbier, Louis learned a new kind of system called “night writing” where raised dots represented sounds. Louis was determined to perfect this idea of raised dots. As a teacher at The Royal Institution for the Blind, in Paris, France, Louis found a system that worked and called it Braille. In 1847 the first press was created and books are plentiful for the blind now!

6. What inventions has this invention inspired? Talking thermometers Beeping equipment The use of computers to help the blind in science

7. Bibliography – MLA FORMAT * http://www.brailleworks.com/Resources/HistoryofBraille.aspx http://www.helium.com/items/1681577-lab-equipment-for-the-blind Focus on Inventors * PLEASE NOTE THIS BIBLIOGRAPHY IS INCORRECTLY DONE!!! USE EASYBIB!!!!