The World Blind Union, the international association representing the world's blind individuals, met at the Library of Congress from Sept. 30 to Oct. 1 to hold its annual meeting of the North America/Caribbean Region.
Delegates to the World Blind Union meeting in the Jefferson Building's Wilson Room. - Jim Higgins
Frank Kurt Cylke, director of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress (NLS), hosted the meeting in the Jefferson Building. Mr. Cylke presented World Blind Union President Euclid Herie, chief executive officer of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, with a commemorative plaque honoring the naming of a new asteroid for Louis Braille, who invented the system of writing used by blind individuals throughout the world.
All delegates to the international meeting also received copies of the plaque, which depicts a NASA artist's conception of the July 28 Deep Space 1 fly-by near the asteroid Braille (right).
The World Blind Union is particularly pleased that the International Astronomical Union approved naming this new asteroid in honor of Louis Braille," said Mr. Herie. "Continuing world recognition of the importance of braille for blind individuals has been one of the World Blind Union's missions. We have been honored by the Library of Congress for making available this artist's rendering of the NASA fly-by of the asteroid Braille. This plaque will reside in the national libraries of the members of the North America/ Caribbean region of the World Blind Union. It will be a reminder to the people of the world of the importance of braille to blind individuals."
The lead discoverer of asteroid Braille, Eleanor Helin of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.; and the winner of the asteroid international naming contest, Kerry Babcock, a software engineer at the Kennedy Space Center, will, with Mr. Herie, be featured speakers at the Library's National Conference of Librarians Serving Blind and Physically Handicapped Individuals, April 30-May 4, 2000, in Los Angeles.
Frank Kurt Cylke (right), director of the National Library Service for the Blind, presents a plaque depicting a NASA artist's conception of the Deep Space 1 fly-by close to the Asteroid Braille on July 28, to Euclid Herie, president of the World Blind Union. - Jim Higgins
Mr. Babcock's winning citation from the Planetary Society, which sponsored the worldwide contest, reads: "Louis Braille invented the braille language so those who could not see could obtain knowledge and explore through the 'written' word. Likewise, asteroid Braille provides knowledge about our universe and its origins to the people of Earth, who through Deep Space 1, are also able to explore and discover what previously they could not 'see'." Mr. Babcock began to learn to transcribe the braille system a few years ago and was so impressed with Louis Braille's achievement that he named his daughter "Braille."
"Inventions are the products of the human mind," said Ms. Helin, who, as discoverer, had the privilege of naming the asteroid. "It is particularly appropriate to honor Braille and his invention of a means of communication with the minds of humans who are otherwise limited in their ability to 'see' the outside world. Spacecraft such as Deep Space 1, in their own way, also provide a means for humans to 'see' other worlds," she said.
