Abstract
<jats:p>The paper shows ergonomics emergence and development as a research direction of scientists from the 15th century to the present day; highlights the main events related to studying the influence of the human factor and ergonomics on the of military equipment design in the UK and the USA during the First and Second World Wars. The work carries out a comparative analysis of the military ergonomics successes in the USSR and Western countries during the Second World War, based on studying pilots’ errors due to the layout of information display devices and control elements without taking into account ergonomic requirements in designing aviation equipment. The study reveals the directions of post-war foreign research in the field of aviation ergonomics, related to developing oxygen supply systems and special clothing for survival; presents data on post-war cooperation between the UK and the USA in the field of military-ergonomic research. Significant attention in the review is focused on the post-war period of developing domestic labour psychology, engineering psychology, and cognitive ergonomics in such areas as aerospace industry, shipbuilding, defence industry, nuclear energy, transportation engineering, scientific training of personnel. The work presents changes in the interdisciplinary complex of research in the field of the human factor and ergonomics in the 21st century, and identifies promising directions of ergonomic research using domestic and foreign publications.</jats:p>