cchoi1022/wikitext-103-v1 · Datasets at Hugging Face

text stringlengths 0 6.86k
although the brothers received initial support from the government the soviet union officially protested the airport on 5 november 1958 they claimed it could be used as an air force base and thus would be a violation of the svalbard treaty and pointed out that planning was partially financed with american military funding and that gunnar was a military officer from then on the norwegian government started actively opposing the airport at first they asked the company to cease operations then asked the american military to cut funding they also instructed all government @@ owned companies to not allow an airport to be built on their ground the government also used gunnar 's military rank to hinder him to limited extent from pursuing the plans the aviation act which required all airports to have a concession to operate came into effect from 1961 effectively stopping the plans

= = = hamnerabben = = =

following the 1962 mining accident and the subsequent kings bay affair ny @@ ålesund was transformed from a mining town to a research outpost the need for an airport to support commercial activity in ny @@ ålesund arose in 1965 with the construction of kongsfjord telemetry station the royal norwegian council for scientific and industrial research needed to have an aviation connection with longyearbyen to send magnetic tapes with the downloaded data to germany a road was built from the settlement to hamnerabben the site of the telemetry station the top of the hill was sufficiently flat that a runway could be constructed it was built by giving a 850 @@ meter ( 2 @@ 790 ft ) long straight section of the road a width of 40 meters ( 130 ft ) waste oil was poured on the gravel to bind it a smaller road was built to the north of the runway to allow road transport while the runway was in use
the airport was largely used to fly to longyearbyen although a limited number of flights were undertaken to the mainland in addition to magnetic tapes the aircraft were used to transport personnel and cargo particularly during winter services were originally operated by <unk> og <unk> but were later taken over by svalbard @@ fly both of which had their cessna 185 aircraft stationed in ny @@ ålesund on 3 june 1970 a miner with a fractured skull was transported by ship from longyearbyen to ny @@ ålesund and sent on board a piper pa @@ 31 navajo to the mainland for treatment after the telemetry station closed in 1974 the airport was taken over by kings bay during this period longyearbyen was served by a planed section of tundra in adventdalen
svalbard airport longyear opened in 1975 allowing better facilities and connection with scheduled flights to the mainland at the same time lufttransport established itself at svalbard airport during the summer of 1975 the norwegian polar institute stationed two helicopters at ny @@ ålesund airport to support their expeditions during the late 1970s there was little winter activity in ny @@ ålesund but the air strip was kept operational for the few groups of researchers who did visit a radio line repeater was installed at <unk> in 1980 resulting in ny @@ ålesund receiving a telephone connection a radio beacon was subsequently installed at the airport
during the 1980s the services were gradually taken over by lufttransport who used both small aircraft and helicopters these gradually became more regular and became de facto scheduled services every fortnight lufttransport replaced the helicopter service with a two @@ engine five @@ seat aircraft in 1989 which cut the cost of transport significantly in 1993 widerøe established itself at svalbard airport and flew services to ny @@ ålesund but this only lasted the one season in 1996 lufttransport and kings bay made an agreement that the airline would fly once per week during the winter and up to five times per week during the summer the airline would use a dornier do 228 which was also used for flights from longyearbyen to svea airport for store norske spitsbergen kulkompani

= = facilities = =

ny @@ ålesund airport hamnerabben is located at hamnerabben 0 @@ 65 nautical miles ( 1 @@ 20 km 0 @@ 75 mi ) west of the main settlement of ny @@ ålesund it consists of a single 808 @@ meter ( 2 @@ 651 ft ) long and 30 @@ meter ( 98 ft ) wide gravel runway it is located at 40 meters ( 130 ft ) elevation and aligned 12 / 30 the airport has a single 30 @@ by @@ 75 @@ meter ( 98 by 246 ft ) apron the airport has aerodrome flight information service but lacks terminal and hangar facilities

= = airlines and destinations = =

the only airline to provide service to and from hamnerabben is lufttransport which operates 16 @@ seat dornier do 228 aircraft to svalbard airport longyear the airline provides two flights per week during the winter and four flights per week during the summer all departures are charter flights organized by kings bay and tickets are only available through the company occasional ad hoc charter flights are also sometimes operated at longyearbyen connections are provided onwards to tromsø airport and oslo airport gardermoen


= louis braille =

louis braille ( / <unk> / listen french [ lwi <unk> ( ə ) ] 4 january 1809 6 january 1852 ) was a french educator and inventor of a system of reading and writing for use by the blind or visually impaired his system remains known worldwide simply as braille
blinded in both eyes as a result of an early childhood accident braille mastered his disability while still a boy he excelled in his education and received scholarship to france 's royal institute for blind youth while still a student there he began developing a system of tactile code that could allow blind people to read and write quickly and efficiently inspired by the military cryptography of charles barbier braille constructed a new method built specifically for the needs of the blind he presented his work to his peers for the first time in 1824
in adulthood braille served as a professor at the institute and enjoyed an avocation as a musician but he largely spent the remainder of his life refining and extending his system it went unused by most educators for many years after his death but posterity has recognized braille as a revolutionary invention and it has been adapted for use in languages worldwide

= = early life = =

louis braille was born in coupvray france a small town about twenty miles east of paris he and his three elder siblings monique catherine ( <unk> ) louis @@ simon ( <unk> ) and marie céline ( <unk> ) lived with their parents simon @@ rené and monique on three hectares of land and vineyards in the countryside simon @@ rené maintained a successful enterprise as a <unk> and maker of horse tack
as soon as he could walk braille spent time playing in his father 's workshop at the age of three the child was toying with some of the tools trying to make holes in a piece of leather with an awl <unk> closely at the surface he pressed down hard to drive the point in and the awl glanced across the tough leather and struck him in one of his eyes a local physician bound and patched the affected eye and even arranged for braille to be met the next day in paris by a highly respected surgeon but no treatment could save the damaged organ in agony the young boy suffered for weeks as the wound became severely infected an infection which then spread to his other eye likely due to sympathetic <unk>
louis braille survived the torment of the infection but by the age of five he was completely blind in both eyes due to his young age braille did not realize at first that he had lost his sight and often asked why it was always dark his devoted parents made great efforts quite uncommon for the era to raise their youngest child in a normal fashion and he prospered in their care he learned to navigate the village and country paths with canes his father hewed for him and he grew up seemingly at peace with his disability braille 's bright and creative mind impressed the local teachers and priests and he was accommodated with higher education

= = education = =

braille studied in coupvray until the age of ten because of his combination of intelligence and diligence braille was permitted to attend one of the first schools for blind children in the world the royal institute for blind youth since renamed to the national institute for blind youth in paris braille the last of the family 's children to leave the household departed for the school in february 1819 at that time the royal institute was an underfunded ramshackle affair but it provided a relatively stable environment for blind children to learn and associate together

= = = haüy system = = =

the children were taught how to read by a system devised by the school 's founder valentin haüy not blind himself haüy was a committed philanthropist who devoted his life to helping the blind he designed and manufactured a small library of books for the children using a technique of embossing heavy paper with the raised imprints of latin letters readers would trace their fingers over the text comprehending slowly but in a traditional fashion which haüy could appreciate
braille was helped by the haüy books but he also despaired over their lack of depth the amount of information kept in such books was necessarily small because the raised letters were made in a complex artisanal process using wet paper pressed against copper wire the children could not hope to write by themselves so that the young louis could send letters back home simon @@ rené provided him with an alphabet fashioned from bits of thick leather it was a slow and cumbersome process but the boy could at least trace the letters ' outlines and write his first sentences
the handcrafted haüy books all came in uncomfortable sizes and weights they were laboriously constructed exquisitely delicate and greatly expensive to obtain when haüy 's school first opened it had a total of three books despite their drawbacks haüy promoted their use with zeal to him the books presented a new and handsome system which would be readily approved by those with eyesight certainly no better method yet existed for the blind to read and the books seemed to the sighted to offer the best achievable results braille and his schoolmates however could detect all too well the books ' crushing limitations nonetheless haüy 's well @@ intentioned efforts still provided a breakthrough achievement the recognition of the sense of touch as a workable strategy for sightless reading haüy 's only personal limitation was that he was talking to the fingers [ with ] the language of the eye

= = = teacher and musician = = =

braille read the haüy books repeatedly and he was equally attentive to the oral instruction offered by the school he proved to be a highly proficient student and after he had exhausted the school 's curriculum he was immediately asked to remain as a teacher 's aide by 1833 he was elevated to a full professorship for much of the rest of his life braille stayed at the institute where he taught history geometry and algebra
braille 's ear for music enabled him to become an accomplished cellist and organist in classes taught by jean @@ nicholas <unk> later in life his musical talents led him to play the organ for churches all over france a devout catholic braille held the position of organist in paris at the church of saint @@ nicolas @@ des @@ champs from 1834 to 1839 and later at the church of saint @@ vincent @@ de @@ paul

= = braille system = =

braille was determined to fashion a system of reading and writing that could bridge the critical gap in communication between the sighted and the blind in his own words access to communication in the widest sense is access to knowledge and that is vitally important for us if we [ the blind ] are not to go on being despised or patronized by condescending sighted people we do not need pity nor do we need to be reminded we are vulnerable we must be treated as equals and communication is the way this can be brought about

= = = origins = = =

in 1821 braille learned of a communication system devised by captain charles barbier of the french army some sources depict braille learning about it from a newspaper account read to him by a friend while others say the officer aware of its potential made a special visit to the school in either case barbier willingly shared his invention called night writing which was a code of dots and dashes impressed into thick paper these impressions could be interpreted entirely by the fingers letting soldiers share information on the battlefield without having light or needing to speak the captain 's code turned out to be too complex to use in its original military form but it inspired braille to develop a system of his own

= = = design = = =

braille worked tirelessly on his ideas and his system was largely completed by 1824 when he was fifteen years old from barbier 's night writing he innovated by simplifying its form and maximizing its efficiency he made uniform columns for each letter and he reduced the twelve raised dots to six he published his system in 1829 and by the second edition in 1837 had discarded the dashes because they were too difficult to read crucially braille 's smaller cells were capable of being recognized as letters with a single touch of a finger
braille created his own raised @@ dot system by using an awl the same kind of implement which had blinded him in the process of designing his system he also designed an ergonomic interface for using it based on barbier 's own slate and stylus tools by soldering two metal strips across the slate he created a secure area for the stylus which would keep the lines straight and readable
by these modest means braille constructed a robust communication system it bears the stamp of genius wrote dr richard <unk> french former director of the california school for the blind like the roman alphabet itself

= = = musical adaptation = = =

the system was soon extended to include braille musical notation passionate about his own music braille took meticulous care in its planning to ensure that the musical code would be flexible enough to meet the unique requirements of any instrument in 1829 he published the first book about his system method of writing words music and plain songs by means of dots for use by the blind and arranged for them ironically this book was first printed by the raised letter method of the haüy system

= = = publications = = =

braille produced several written works about braille and as general education for the blind method of writing words music and plain songs ( 1829 ) was revised and republished in 1837 his mathematics guide little synopsis of arithmetic for beginners entered use in 1838 and his monograph new method for representing by dots the form of letters maps geometric figures musical symbols etc for use by the blind was first published in 1839 many of braille 's original printed works remain available at the braille birthplace museum in coupvray

= = = <unk> = = =

new method for representing by dots ( 1839 ) put forth braille 's plan for a new writing system with which blind people could write letters that could be read by sighted people called <unk> the system combined his method of dot @@ punching with a new specialized grill which braille devised to overlay the paper when used with an associated number table ( also designed by braille and requiring memorization ) the grill could permit a blind writer to faithfully reproduce the standard alphabet
after the introduction of <unk> braille gave assistance to his friend pierre @@ françois @@ victor foucault who was working on the development of his <unk> a device that could <unk> letters in the manner of a typewriter foucault 's machine was hailed as a great success and was exhibited at the world 's fair in paris in 1855

= = later life = =

although braille was admired and respected by his pupils his writing system was not taught at the institute during his lifetime the successors of valentin haüy who had died in 1822 showed no interest in altering the established methods of the school and indeed they were actively hostile to its use dr alexandre françois @@ rené <unk> headmaster at the school was dismissed from his post after he had a history book translated into braille
braille had always been a sickly child and his condition worsened in adulthood a persistent respiratory illness long believed to be tuberculosis dogged him and by the age of forty he was forced to relinquish his position as a teacher when his condition reached mortal danger he was admitted to the infirmary at the royal institution where he died in 1852 two days after he had reached the age of forty @@ three

= = legacy = =

through the overwhelming insistence of the blind pupils braille 's system was finally adopted by the institute in 1854 two years after his death the system spread throughout the french @@ speaking world but was slower to expand in other places however by the time of the first all @@ european conference of teachers of the blind in 1873 the cause of braille was championed by dr thomas rhodes armitage and thereafter its international use increased rapidly by 1882 dr armitage was able to report that there is now probably no institution in the civilized world where braille is not used except in some of those in north america eventually even these holdouts relented braille was officially adopted by schools for the blind in the united states in 1916 and a universal braille code for english was formalized in 1932
new variations in braille technology continue to grow including such innovations as braille computer terminals <unk> email delivery service and nemeth braille a comprehensive system for mathematical and scientific notation almost two centuries after its invention braille remains a system of powerful and enduring utility

= = = honors and tributes = = =

the immense personal legacy of louis braille was described in a 1952 essay by ts eliot
braille 's childhood home in coupvray is a listed historic building and houses the louis braille museum a large monument to him was erected in the town square which was itself renamed braille square on the centenary of his death his remains were moved to the panthéon in paris in a symbolic gesture braille 's hands were left in coupvray reverently buried near his home
statues and other memorials to louis braille can be found around the world he has been commemorated in postage stamps worldwide and the asteroid <unk> braille was named for him in 1992 the encyclopædia britannica lists him among the 100 most influential inventors of all time
the 200th anniversary of braille 's birth in 2009 was celebrated throughout the world by exhibitions and symposiums about his life and achievements among the commemorations belgium and italy struck 2 @@ euro coins india struck a 2 @@ rupee coin and the usa struck a one dollar coin all in braille 's honor

= = = in popular culture = = =

because of his accomplishments as a young boy braille holds a special place as a hero for children and he has been the subject of a large number of works of juvenile literature other appearances in the arts include the american tv special young heroes louis braille ( 2010 ) the french tv movie une lumière dans la nuit ( 2008 ) ( released in english as the secret of braille ) and the dramatic play braille the early life of louis braille ( 1989 ) by lola and coleman jennings in music braille 's life was subject of the song called merci louis composed by the halifax singer @@ songwriter terry kelly chair of the canadian braille literacy foundation


= paper hearts =

paper hearts is the tenth episode of the fourth season of the american science fiction television series the x @@ files it premiered on the fox network on december 15 1996 it was written by vince gilligan directed by rob bowman and featured guest appearances by tom noonan rebecca toolan and vanessa morley the episode is a monster @@ of @@ the @@ week story unconnected to but conversant with the series ' wider mythology paper hearts was viewed by 16 @@ 59 million people in its initial broadcast and received positive reviews with critics praising noonan 's guest role
the show centers on fbi special agents fox mulder ( david duchovny ) and dana scully ( gillian anderson ) who work on cases linked to the paranormal called x @@ files mulder is a believer in the paranormal and the skeptical scully has been assigned to debunk his work in this episode mulder and scully find that a child killer ( tom noonan ) who mulder had helped to apprehend several years earlier had claimed more victims than he had confessed to and in the resulting investigation learn that the killer is now claiming to have killed mulder 's sister samantha
gilligan came up with the concept for paper hearts when thinking about the series ' longest running storyline the abduction of samantha mulder he came up with a story questioning whether samantha had not been abducted by aliens but was rather murdered by a child killer instead paper hearts was written specifically with tom noonan in mind for the role of roche and was amongst the first television work the actor had done

although the brothers received initial support from the government the soviet union officially protested the airport on 5 november 1958 they claimed it could be used as an air force base and thus would be a violation of the svalbard treaty and pointed out that planning was partially financed with american military funding and that gunnar was a military officer from then on the norwegian government started actively opposing the airport at first they asked the company to cease operations then asked the american military to cut funding they also instructed all government @@ owned companies to not allow an airport to be built on their ground the government also used gunnar 's military rank to hinder him to limited extent from pursuing the plans the aviation act which required all airports to have a concession to operate came into effect from 1961 effectively stopping the plans

= = = hamnerabben = = =

following the 1962 mining accident and the subsequent kings bay affair ny @@ ålesund was transformed from a mining town to a research outpost the need for an airport to support commercial activity in ny @@ ålesund arose in 1965 with the construction of kongsfjord telemetry station the royal norwegian council for scientific and industrial research needed to have an aviation connection with longyearbyen to send magnetic tapes with the downloaded data to germany a road was built from the settlement to hamnerabben the site of the telemetry station the top of the hill was sufficiently flat that a runway could be constructed it was built by giving a 850 @@ meter ( 2 @@ 790 ft ) long straight section of the road a width of 40 meters ( 130 ft ) waste oil was poured on the gravel to bind it a smaller road was built to the north of the runway to allow road transport while the runway was in use

the airport was largely used to fly to longyearbyen although a limited number of flights were undertaken to the mainland in addition to magnetic tapes the aircraft were used to transport personnel and cargo particularly during winter services were originally operated by <unk> og <unk> but were later taken over by svalbard @@ fly both of which had their cessna 185 aircraft stationed in ny @@ ålesund on 3 june 1970 a miner with a fractured skull was transported by ship from longyearbyen to ny @@ ålesund and sent on board a piper pa @@ 31 navajo to the mainland for treatment after the telemetry station closed in 1974 the airport was taken over by kings bay during this period longyearbyen was served by a planed section of tundra in adventdalen

svalbard airport longyear opened in 1975 allowing better facilities and connection with scheduled flights to the mainland at the same time lufttransport established itself at svalbard airport during the summer of 1975 the norwegian polar institute stationed two helicopters at ny @@ ålesund airport to support their expeditions during the late 1970s there was little winter activity in ny @@ ålesund but the air strip was kept operational for the few groups of researchers who did visit a radio line repeater was installed at <unk> in 1980 resulting in ny @@ ålesund receiving a telephone connection a radio beacon was subsequently installed at the airport

during the 1980s the services were gradually taken over by lufttransport who used both small aircraft and helicopters these gradually became more regular and became de facto scheduled services every fortnight lufttransport replaced the helicopter service with a two @@ engine five @@ seat aircraft in 1989 which cut the cost of transport significantly in 1993 widerøe established itself at svalbard airport and flew services to ny @@ ålesund but this only lasted the one season in 1996 lufttransport and kings bay made an agreement that the airline would fly once per week during the winter and up to five times per week during the summer the airline would use a dornier do 228 which was also used for flights from longyearbyen to svea airport for store norske spitsbergen kulkompani

= = facilities = =

ny @@ ålesund airport hamnerabben is located at hamnerabben 0 @@ 65 nautical miles ( 1 @@ 20 km 0 @@ 75 mi ) west of the main settlement of ny @@ ålesund it consists of a single 808 @@ meter ( 2 @@ 651 ft ) long and 30 @@ meter ( 98 ft ) wide gravel runway it is located at 40 meters ( 130 ft ) elevation and aligned 12 / 30 the airport has a single 30 @@ by @@ 75 @@ meter ( 98 by 246 ft ) apron the airport has aerodrome flight information service but lacks terminal and hangar facilities

= = airlines and destinations = =

the only airline to provide service to and from hamnerabben is lufttransport which operates 16 @@ seat dornier do 228 aircraft to svalbard airport longyear the airline provides two flights per week during the winter and four flights per week during the summer all departures are charter flights organized by kings bay and tickets are only available through the company occasional ad hoc charter flights are also sometimes operated at longyearbyen connections are provided onwards to tromsø airport and oslo airport gardermoen

= louis braille =

louis braille ( / <unk> / listen french [ lwi <unk> ( ə ) ] 4 january 1809 6 january 1852 ) was a french educator and inventor of a system of reading and writing for use by the blind or visually impaired his system remains known worldwide simply as braille

blinded in both eyes as a result of an early childhood accident braille mastered his disability while still a boy he excelled in his education and received scholarship to france 's royal institute for blind youth while still a student there he began developing a system of tactile code that could allow blind people to read and write quickly and efficiently inspired by the military cryptography of charles barbier braille constructed a new method built specifically for the needs of the blind he presented his work to his peers for the first time in 1824

in adulthood braille served as a professor at the institute and enjoyed an avocation as a musician but he largely spent the remainder of his life refining and extending his system it went unused by most educators for many years after his death but posterity has recognized braille as a revolutionary invention and it has been adapted for use in languages worldwide

= = early life = =

louis braille was born in coupvray france a small town about twenty miles east of paris he and his three elder siblings monique catherine ( <unk> ) louis @@ simon ( <unk> ) and marie céline ( <unk> ) lived with their parents simon @@ rené and monique on three hectares of land and vineyards in the countryside simon @@ rené maintained a successful enterprise as a <unk> and maker of horse tack

as soon as he could walk braille spent time playing in his father 's workshop at the age of three the child was toying with some of the tools trying to make holes in a piece of leather with an awl <unk> closely at the surface he pressed down hard to drive the point in and the awl glanced across the tough leather and struck him in one of his eyes a local physician bound and patched the affected eye and even arranged for braille to be met the next day in paris by a highly respected surgeon but no treatment could save the damaged organ in agony the young boy suffered for weeks as the wound became severely infected an infection which then spread to his other eye likely due to sympathetic <unk>

louis braille survived the torment of the infection but by the age of five he was completely blind in both eyes due to his young age braille did not realize at first that he had lost his sight and often asked why it was always dark his devoted parents made great efforts quite uncommon for the era to raise their youngest child in a normal fashion and he prospered in their care he learned to navigate the village and country paths with canes his father hewed for him and he grew up seemingly at peace with his disability braille 's bright and creative mind impressed the local teachers and priests and he was accommodated with higher education

= = education = =

braille studied in coupvray until the age of ten because of his combination of intelligence and diligence braille was permitted to attend one of the first schools for blind children in the world the royal institute for blind youth since renamed to the national institute for blind youth in paris braille the last of the family 's children to leave the household departed for the school in february 1819 at that time the royal institute was an underfunded ramshackle affair but it provided a relatively stable environment for blind children to learn and associate together

= = = haüy system = = =

the children were taught how to read by a system devised by the school 's founder valentin haüy not blind himself haüy was a committed philanthropist who devoted his life to helping the blind he designed and manufactured a small library of books for the children using a technique of embossing heavy paper with the raised imprints of latin letters readers would trace their fingers over the text comprehending slowly but in a traditional fashion which haüy could appreciate

braille was helped by the haüy books but he also despaired over their lack of depth the amount of information kept in such books was necessarily small because the raised letters were made in a complex artisanal process using wet paper pressed against copper wire the children could not hope to write by themselves so that the young louis could send letters back home simon @@ rené provided him with an alphabet fashioned from bits of thick leather it was a slow and cumbersome process but the boy could at least trace the letters ' outlines and write his first sentences

the handcrafted haüy books all came in uncomfortable sizes and weights they were laboriously constructed exquisitely delicate and greatly expensive to obtain when haüy 's school first opened it had a total of three books despite their drawbacks haüy promoted their use with zeal to him the books presented a new and handsome system which would be readily approved by those with eyesight certainly no better method yet existed for the blind to read and the books seemed to the sighted to offer the best achievable results braille and his schoolmates however could detect all too well the books ' crushing limitations nonetheless haüy 's well @@ intentioned efforts still provided a breakthrough achievement the recognition of the sense of touch as a workable strategy for sightless reading haüy 's only personal limitation was that he was talking to the fingers [ with ] the language of the eye

= = = teacher and musician = = =

braille read the haüy books repeatedly and he was equally attentive to the oral instruction offered by the school he proved to be a highly proficient student and after he had exhausted the school 's curriculum he was immediately asked to remain as a teacher 's aide by 1833 he was elevated to a full professorship for much of the rest of his life braille stayed at the institute where he taught history geometry and algebra

braille 's ear for music enabled him to become an accomplished cellist and organist in classes taught by jean @@ nicholas <unk> later in life his musical talents led him to play the organ for churches all over france a devout catholic braille held the position of organist in paris at the church of saint @@ nicolas @@ des @@ champs from 1834 to 1839 and later at the church of saint @@ vincent @@ de @@ paul

= = braille system = =

braille was determined to fashion a system of reading and writing that could bridge the critical gap in communication between the sighted and the blind in his own words access to communication in the widest sense is access to knowledge and that is vitally important for us if we [ the blind ] are not to go on being despised or patronized by condescending sighted people we do not need pity nor do we need to be reminded we are vulnerable we must be treated as equals and communication is the way this can be brought about

= = = origins = = =

in 1821 braille learned of a communication system devised by captain charles barbier of the french army some sources depict braille learning about it from a newspaper account read to him by a friend while others say the officer aware of its potential made a special visit to the school in either case barbier willingly shared his invention called night writing which was a code of dots and dashes impressed into thick paper these impressions could be interpreted entirely by the fingers letting soldiers share information on the battlefield without having light or needing to speak the captain 's code turned out to be too complex to use in its original military form but it inspired braille to develop a system of his own

= = = design = = =

braille worked tirelessly on his ideas and his system was largely completed by 1824 when he was fifteen years old from barbier 's night writing he innovated by simplifying its form and maximizing its efficiency he made uniform columns for each letter and he reduced the twelve raised dots to six he published his system in 1829 and by the second edition in 1837 had discarded the dashes because they were too difficult to read crucially braille 's smaller cells were capable of being recognized as letters with a single touch of a finger

braille created his own raised @@ dot system by using an awl the same kind of implement which had blinded him in the process of designing his system he also designed an ergonomic interface for using it based on barbier 's own slate and stylus tools by soldering two metal strips across the slate he created a secure area for the stylus which would keep the lines straight and readable

by these modest means braille constructed a robust communication system it bears the stamp of genius wrote dr richard <unk> french former director of the california school for the blind like the roman alphabet itself

= = = musical adaptation = = =

the system was soon extended to include braille musical notation passionate about his own music braille took meticulous care in its planning to ensure that the musical code would be flexible enough to meet the unique requirements of any instrument in 1829 he published the first book about his system method of writing words music and plain songs by means of dots for use by the blind and arranged for them ironically this book was first printed by the raised letter method of the haüy system

= = = publications = = =

braille produced several written works about braille and as general education for the blind method of writing words music and plain songs ( 1829 ) was revised and republished in 1837 his mathematics guide little synopsis of arithmetic for beginners entered use in 1838 and his monograph new method for representing by dots the form of letters maps geometric figures musical symbols etc for use by the blind was first published in 1839 many of braille 's original printed works remain available at the braille birthplace museum in coupvray

= = = <unk> = = =

new method for representing by dots ( 1839 ) put forth braille 's plan for a new writing system with which blind people could write letters that could be read by sighted people called <unk> the system combined his method of dot @@ punching with a new specialized grill which braille devised to overlay the paper when used with an associated number table ( also designed by braille and requiring memorization ) the grill could permit a blind writer to faithfully reproduce the standard alphabet

after the introduction of <unk> braille gave assistance to his friend pierre @@ françois @@ victor foucault who was working on the development of his <unk> a device that could <unk> letters in the manner of a typewriter foucault 's machine was hailed as a great success and was exhibited at the world 's fair in paris in 1855

= = later life = =

although braille was admired and respected by his pupils his writing system was not taught at the institute during his lifetime the successors of valentin haüy who had died in 1822 showed no interest in altering the established methods of the school and indeed they were actively hostile to its use dr alexandre françois @@ rené <unk> headmaster at the school was dismissed from his post after he had a history book translated into braille

braille had always been a sickly child and his condition worsened in adulthood a persistent respiratory illness long believed to be tuberculosis dogged him and by the age of forty he was forced to relinquish his position as a teacher when his condition reached mortal danger he was admitted to the infirmary at the royal institution where he died in 1852 two days after he had reached the age of forty @@ three

= = legacy = =

through the overwhelming insistence of the blind pupils braille 's system was finally adopted by the institute in 1854 two years after his death the system spread throughout the french @@ speaking world but was slower to expand in other places however by the time of the first all @@ european conference of teachers of the blind in 1873 the cause of braille was championed by dr thomas rhodes armitage and thereafter its international use increased rapidly by 1882 dr armitage was able to report that there is now probably no institution in the civilized world where braille is not used except in some of those in north america eventually even these holdouts relented braille was officially adopted by schools for the blind in the united states in 1916 and a universal braille code for english was formalized in 1932

new variations in braille technology continue to grow including such innovations as braille computer terminals <unk> email delivery service and nemeth braille a comprehensive system for mathematical and scientific notation almost two centuries after its invention braille remains a system of powerful and enduring utility

= = = honors and tributes = = =

the immense personal legacy of louis braille was described in a 1952 essay by ts eliot

braille 's childhood home in coupvray is a listed historic building and houses the louis braille museum a large monument to him was erected in the town square which was itself renamed braille square on the centenary of his death his remains were moved to the panthéon in paris in a symbolic gesture braille 's hands were left in coupvray reverently buried near his home

statues and other memorials to louis braille can be found around the world he has been commemorated in postage stamps worldwide and the asteroid <unk> braille was named for him in 1992 the encyclopædia britannica lists him among the 100 most influential inventors of all time

the 200th anniversary of braille 's birth in 2009 was celebrated throughout the world by exhibitions and symposiums about his life and achievements among the commemorations belgium and italy struck 2 @@ euro coins india struck a 2 @@ rupee coin and the usa struck a one dollar coin all in braille 's honor

= = = in popular culture = = =

because of his accomplishments as a young boy braille holds a special place as a hero for children and he has been the subject of a large number of works of juvenile literature other appearances in the arts include the american tv special young heroes louis braille ( 2010 ) the french tv movie une lumière dans la nuit ( 2008 ) ( released in english as the secret of braille ) and the dramatic play braille the early life of louis braille ( 1989 ) by lola and coleman jennings in music braille 's life was subject of the song called merci louis composed by the halifax singer @@ songwriter terry kelly chair of the canadian braille literacy foundation

= paper hearts =

paper hearts is the tenth episode of the fourth season of the american science fiction television series the x @@ files it premiered on the fox network on december 15 1996 it was written by vince gilligan directed by rob bowman and featured guest appearances by tom noonan rebecca toolan and vanessa morley the episode is a monster @@ of @@ the @@ week story unconnected to but conversant with the series ' wider mythology paper hearts was viewed by 16 @@ 59 million people in its initial broadcast and received positive reviews with critics praising noonan 's guest role

the show centers on fbi special agents fox mulder ( david duchovny ) and dana scully ( gillian anderson ) who work on cases linked to the paranormal called x @@ files mulder is a believer in the paranormal and the skeptical scully has been assigned to debunk his work in this episode mulder and scully find that a child killer ( tom noonan ) who mulder had helped to apprehend several years earlier had claimed more victims than he had confessed to and in the resulting investigation learn that the killer is now claiming to have killed mulder 's sister samantha

gilligan came up with the concept for paper hearts when thinking about the series ' longest running storyline the abduction of samantha mulder he came up with a story questioning whether samantha had not been abducted by aliens but was rather murdered by a child killer instead paper hearts was written specifically with tom noonan in mind for the role of roche and was amongst the first television work the actor had done