Instrumentation VII: The human factors: The operator, who must push buttons, twist knobs, and observe results rapidly, clearly, and unambiguously, is a principal design constraint

Although recorded attempts to integrate human factors into equipment design date back to the last century, it was not until World War II that human factors engineering became a specialized science. Today, instrument manufacturers consider "human engineering" vital in gaining user confidence as well as dollars. Indeed, many respondents to a recent Spectrum instrumentation survey (see pp. 69-72) regarded neglect of human factors a major problem in instruments they didn't like. Perhaps the greatest exponent of human factors engineering is NASA, which throughout the space program has conceptualized man as a working component of the overall system. In fact, NASA has defined a manned space system as hardware, software, and man!