Obituary.(Alphonse Chapanis)(Brief Article)

IIE Solutions, December, 2002

Ergonomics pioneer dies

Alphonse Chapanis, a founder of the ergonomics discipline and promoter of the use of human factors in design, died in October. He was 85.

One of Chapanis' most notable projects was the development of the keypad for push-button telephones. The configuration he designed more than 40 years ago remains the industry standard. His work for the U.S. Army during World War II has also been frequently cited as groundbreaking.

Chapanis was the co-author of Applied Experimental Psychology: Human Factors in Engineering Design, published in 1949, which is widely regarded as the first ergonomics textbook.

Chapanis was a longtime Johns Hopkins University professor. He retired in 1982 after a nearly 40-year career...