August Dvorak

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For the technology columnist, see John C. Dvorak.

Dr. August Dvorak (May 5, 1894 – October 10, 1975)^[1] was an educational psychologist and professor of education^[2] at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington^[3]. He and his brother-in-law, Dr. William Dealey, are best known for creating the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard layout in the 1930s as a replacement for the QWERTY keyboard layout. In the 1940s, Dvorak designed keyboard layouts for people with the use of one hand.

Dvorak, along with Dealey, Nellie Merrick, and Gertrude Ford, wrote the book Typewriting Behavior, which was published in 1936. The book, which is currently not in print, is an in-depth report on the psychology and physiology of typing.

Dvorak was distantly related to the Czech composer Antonín Dvořák. While the composer's name is pronounced [ˈdvɔr̝ɑːk] (IPA), August Dvorak's family in the U.S. pronounces it as [dvoɹæk]^[4].

Dvorak and his wife Hermione were married for over 50 years. He retired from the US Navy as a Submarine Captain and lived out the later years of his life in Seattle tending his flower gardens and prolific blueberry patch.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] External links

Photograph: August Dvorak and typing class at University of Washington, Seattle (November 14, 1932)

[edit] References

^ Cassingham, R. C. (1986). The Dvorak Keyboard. Freelance Communications. ISBN 0-935309-10-1. Page 5.
^ Cassingham, page 32.
^ Dvorak, August et. al. (1936). Typewriting Behavior. American Book Company. Title page.
^ Cassingham, page 15.