2026

On this day in 1852, Louis Braille died at the age of 43. Braille developed a system of reading and writing for the blind and visually impaired. Known simply as braille, the system continues to be used worldwide today. Image: Braille alphabet / Library of Congress Braille was born on January 4, 1809 in Coupvray, a small town near Paris, France. He was blinded at the age of 3 after an accident in his father’s… Read the full story

Today we remember actress Diane Keaton on what would have been her 80th birthday. Image: Diane Keaton / Firooz Zahedi, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) Keaton was born Diane Hall on January 5, 1946 in Los Angeles, California. She was the eldest of four children born to Dorothy Deanne Keaton and John Newton Ignatius “Jack” Hall. Her mother was a homemaker and an amateur photographer and her father was a real estate broker. With an… Read the full story

Today we remember science fiction author Isaac Asimov on what would have been his 105th birthday! Image: Isaac Asimov / Wikimedia Commons Although the exact date of his birth is unknown, Asimov celebrated it on January 2. He was born in Petrovichi, Russia and came to the United States with his family at the age of 3. By the age of 5, he had taught himself how to read and at 19, he sold his first story to a science… Read the full story