August Dvorak (May 5, 1894 – October 9, 1975) was an American educational psychologist and professor of education at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. He and his brother-in-law, William Dealey, are best known for creating the Dvorak keyboard layout in the 1930s as a replacement for the QWERTY keyboard layout.
While his name is pronounced , with the ř roughly as a simultaneous trilled and due to him being of Czech descent, Dvorak's family in the U.S. pronounces it , with an English r.
Early life
August Dvorak was born on May 5, 1894. Later, he was the captain of a Gato-class submarine in the United States Navy during World War II.
Education
Dvorak graduated from the University of Minnesota with a B.A. in 1920 and a Ph.D. in 1923. He taught at the University of Washington from 1923 to 1964.
Dvorak and Dealey, together with Nellie Merrick and Gertrude Ford, wrote the book Typewriting Behavior, published in 1936. The book is an in-depth report on the psychology and physiology of typing.
Life and family
Dr. August Dvorak died in Seattle on October 9, 1975.
References
External links
- Photograph: August Dvorak and typing class at University of Washington, Seattle (November 14, 1932)
- Dvorak Keyboard Claims
- Dvorak Keyboard Magazine
- Dvorak keyboard layout, Spanish variant