[nfbmi-talk] FW: [The-Facts-Machine] Dr. Abraham Nemeth, Inventor of the Nemeth Mathematical Braille Code Dies at 94

[Fred Wurtzel]

From: the-facts-machine at googlegroups.com
[mailto:the-facts-machine at googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Steve
Sent: Wednesday, October 02, 2013 6:01 PM
To: msb-alumni; the-facts-machine
Subject: [The-Facts-Machine] Dr. Abraham Nemeth, Inventor of the Nemeth
Mathematical Braille Code Dies at 94

 

Dr. Abraham Nemeth, inventor of the Braille math code, dies at 94

October 16, 1918 - October 2, 2013

 

 

emeth Code is the code for mathematics and scientific notation in North
America. It's regularly taught as a form of Braille study, bringing new
independence
into student's lives. The creator of this life changing code died today. 
Dr. Abraham Nemeth, blind mathematician and most well known for creating the
Nemeth Code, has died peacefully. He was 94. 
Nemeth was born in New York and attended public school before studying
mathematics at Brooklyn College despite the repeated affirmations by his
counselors
that he could never have a career in math because he was blind. 
Believing what his counselors told him he majored in psychology. He got a
B.A. in psychology from Brooklyn College and an M.A. in psychology from
Columbia
University where he had a day job at the American Foundation for the Blind
(AFB) that he didn't like. His wife noticed that he wasn't happy and
encouraged
his pursuit of his passion. Nemeth started taking math classes at night at
Brooklyn College and then got the teaching position there. 
After prodding from his wife and a change of heart, he proceeded to continue
his studies in math where he began making up his own Braille math code in
1946
because people used the Taylor Code from England for writing mathematics in
Braille and he thought that the Taylor Code used too many grouping symbols.

 

He began devising his own code with readers in college. He had already come
up with rules to tell readers how to read mathematics aloud so he working on
Braille code which simulated his rules for speech. For example, when you say
"x to the n power," the phrase "to the" means "begin a superscript," and the
word "power" means, "return to the baseline." So in his Braille code symbols
were created that mean "begin superscript" and "return to the baseline." 
The code was published by the AFB after another blind employee, Dr. Clifford
Witcher, a physicist from Columbia University. Asked if he had a table of
integrals
in Braille. 
A table of integrals is a long list of formulas for performing a calculus
operation called integration. A table of integrals is part of the holy
liturgy
for calculus students, engineers, physicists, and many others. 
When Nemeth said he had one but it was in his own code Witcher tried it out
anyway with lessons from Nemeth. Impressed, the elated student presented the
code to the Mathematics Subcommittee of the Joint Uniform Type Committee.
This committee, an ancestor of BANA, was responsible for Braille codes in
the
U.S. and England (the word "Joint" referred to the U.S.A. and England). 
This code eventually was published by the American Printing House for the
Blind and became known as the Nemeth Braille Code for Mathematics and
Science
Notation. 
Nemeth worked for 30 years at the University of Detroit and helped to launch
the computer science program there in the 1960's. He remained active after
retirement well into his 90's through committees at the National Federation
of the Blind and transcribing Hebrew prayer books to braille among many
other
endeavors. Nemeth's code is still used today and his pioneering work has
greatly helped to advance the accessibility of mathematics for the blind. 

 

Steve

Class of '72

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