ergonomics

9 January 2026

Ergonomics is a combination of the Greek ἔργον (ergo, meaning work) + the English -nomics, taken from economics. It is the study of the interaction of people and their work environments, particularly in reference to efficiency and safety. The word was evidently coined in 1949 by a group of British scientists working in this field. The earliest use in print that I’m aware of is in the British medical journal The Lancet on 1 April 1950:

In July, 1949, a group of people decided to form a new society for which the name the “Ergonomics Research Society” has now been adopted. Ergonomics by definition is to mean “the study of the relation between man and his working environment,” particularly the application of anatomical, physiological, and psychological knowledge of the problems arising therefrom. This covers the field which has variously been described as “fitting the machine to the man,” human engineering, that part of industrial psychology not concerned with vocational guidance, &c.

The adjective ergonomic, applied particularly to the design of objects and working space with efficiency and safety in mind, appears in a paper by Wilfred. E. Le Gros Clarke at a 1951 conference sponsored by the aforementioned Ergonomics Research Society:

One of the difficulties with which the anatomist has to contend in ergonomic problems is the great variability of the dimensions of the human body. This difficulty continually obtrudes itself in connection with the amount of working space which is required by men engaged in different jobs, with the design of seating or standing supports, the positioning of controls, instruments and viewing apparatus, and the fitting of clothing or harness of one sort or another.

Le Gros Clarke is more famous as one of the men who debunked the Piltdown Man hoax.

Sources:

Browne, R. C., et al. “Ergonomics Research Society.” Lancet, 1 April 1950, 645–646 at 645/2. Elsevier Science Direct.

Le Gros Clarke, Wilfred E. “The Anatomy of Work” (1951). In Symposium on Human Factors in Equipment Design, Proceedings of the Ergonomics Research Society, vol. 2. London: H. K. Lewis, 1954, 5–15 at 6. 1977 Reprint by Arno Press, New York. Archive.org.

Oxford English Dictionary Online, 1972, s.v. ergonomics, n., ergonomic, adj.

Image credit: Yamavu, 2013. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain image.