Alphonse Chapanis (March 17, 1917 – October 4, 2002) was an American pioneer in the field of industrial design, and is widely considered one of the fathers of ergonomics or human factors – the science of ensuring that design takes account of human characteristics.
[2] He was notably active in improving aviation safety around the time of World War II, although his career covered a wide range of domains and applications.
After a series of runway crashes of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, Chapanis found that certain cockpit controls were confused with each other, due partly to their proximity and similarity of shape.
[4] In 1949 he published the first textbook on the subject of ergonomics, Applied Experimental Psychology: Human Factors in Engineering Design.
[5] In the 1950s, Chapanis worked with Bell Labs on the design of push-button telephone handsets, conducting experiments that led to the present layout of the keys.