What was the critical focus of ergonomics during the World Wars era of its formalization?
Optimizing human interaction with complex machinery like aircraft cockpits for national security.
The formalization of ergonomics, or human factors engineering, gained significant traction during the periods of the World Wars. At this time, the focus was intensely practical and often tied directly to national security concerns. Researchers and engineers needed to deeply understand how human operators interacted with highly complex equipment, such as the intricate controls and limited spaces within aircraft cockpits. The primary objective was to ensure efficiency and, most critically, safety under pressure by designing the machine interface to fit the human operator naturally, rather than forcing the operator into awkward or dangerous adaptations to suit the machine's configuration. This early work laid the groundwork for understanding physical constraints and interaction dynamics well before digital electronics became commonplace.
