Charles-Augustin Coulomb—The Founder of Physiology and Ergonomics

Abstract

The memoir Sur la force des Hommes was published by Coulomb in 1778. It is an attempt to understand human work mechanically and is the first publication on phy-siology and ergonomics. The question introduced by Coulomb appears from a prag-matic point of view. He proposed to measure the quantity of action (mechanical work) that a man can expend in a day of work by different ways of applying force. To do this, Coulomb studied the old problem of human mechanical capacity, also studied by Theophilus Desagulliers (1683-1744) and Daniel Bernoulli (1700-1782). In this paper we examine and discuss Coulomb’s above-mentioned publication showing his pioneering approach (Coulomb, 2002).