A Tribute to David Meister, Ph.D.

Three years ago today, Dr. David Meister, a most influential voice in the human factors and ergonomics community, passed away.  A few of Dr. Meister’s professional accomplishments include being president of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (then the Human Factors Society) from 1974-1975, one of the founders of the Board of Certification in Professional Ergonomics, and publisher of numerous books and journal articles.

I had the pleasure of meeting and spending a few moments talking with him at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the HFES in Houston, Texas.  It’s hard to express what profound effect this interaction had on me as a graduate student still trying to determine if I wanted to further my educational pursuits or not.  While there, I was also able to purchase his recently published book, The History of Human Factors and Ergonomics, and have it personally autographed.  To this day, it remains a prized treasure in my book collection.

While there have been several luminaries in the field of human factors and ergonomics, Dr. Meister’s contributions toward the philosophy and history of the discipline puts him in a class all his own.

In case you’re interested, a more thorough biography of his life can be found at Ergoweb.