Napoleon Bonaparte was always trying to give his troops an edge in battle. Apparently he though that his men spoke too loudly at times (not a great idea when you don’t want to give up your location), so he set about to find a way to fix that. Night writing, a tactile military code of communication, was developed by Charles Barbier in the early 1800’s in response to Napoleon’s demand for a way of silent communication among his men.
It proved to be too difficult for his men to master, however, and was rejected by the military. In 1821, Barbier took his idea to the National Institute for the Blind in Paris, where he met with none other than Louis Braille. Braille discovered a couple of defects in Barbier’s method, made some changes, and developed the form of Braille visually impaired people still use today.