Q 01/05

When Louis Braille's remains moved to Paris in 1952, which part of him stayed in his home village?

A) His heart

B) His hands

C) His eyes

D) His skull

Answer · why

B) His hands

His hands were kept in an urn in the village cemetery, a symbolic tribute to the man whose touch-reading system they had shaped.

Q 02/05

Which sharp workshop tool stabbed three-year-old Louis Braille in the eye and cost him his sight?

A) A chisel

B) A knife

C) An awl

D) A saw

Answer · why

C) An awl

An awl slipped as the toddler copied his father punching holes; infection then spread to the other eye, and by five he was completely blind.

Q 03/05

What was Louis Braille's position at his Paris school when he worked out his raised-dot alphabet?

A) A full professor

B) The director

C) A teacher's aide

D) A student

Answer · why

D) A student

A student of just fifteen, he had spent three years of evenings and holidays punching dots before showing his code to the school's director.

Q 04/05

Which famous blind author gave a speech in French in Paris in 1952 to honour Louis Braille?

A) Helen Keller

B) Jorge Luis Borges

C) James Thurber

D) Aldous Huxley

Answer · why

A) Helen Keller

Helen Keller was also made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour on that visit, and she compared the inventor's gift to that of Gutenberg.

Q 05/05

Which company redrew its homepage logo in braille dots in January 2006 to honour Louis Braille?

A) Yahoo

B) Microsoft

C) Google

D) Amazon

Answer · why

C) Google

Google spelled its own name in raised-dot letters, marking 197 years since Louis Braille was born.