Charles K. Bliss
Charles Kasiel Bliss (* 1897 as Karl Kasiel flash in Czernowitz; † 13 July 1985 in Sydney, Australia) wanted to make your own font, which would contribute through their uniqueness to avoid misunderstanding between peoples. His sign system should be designed so that the meaning of the terms is instantly recognizable. The result was the Bliss symbols.
Karl Blitz grew up in a region of the Habsburg Monarchy on, on the border of the Russian Empire, lived in nine different nationalities, who were often hostile to each other -minded. He was the first of four children of parents Michel Anchel and Jeanette flash. His father was technically very gifted and worked as an optician, mechanic and electrician.
1922 joined Karl flash his studies in chemical engineering in Vienna from. He worked in the research and was head of the patent department of its operation.
In 1938, after the "Anschluss" of Austria to the German Reich, he was first taken to the Dachau concentration camp, from there to the Buchenwald concentration camp. Thanks to the efforts of his wife Claire, he was released again, but had to leave Germany. He went to Britain. However, because of the outbreak of war in 1939, they could not follow then, and then came to his family in Romania, from where they had to move to friends of her husband to Greece him. After the invasion of Italian troops in Greece both decided to run away to a cousin in Shanghai. Claire went on his way east across the Black Sea, the Trans-Siberian Railway, Manchuria and the Yellow Sea to Shanghai. Karl chose a different path across the Atlantic, Canada, the Pacific and Japan to China. Christmas 1940 they were back together after three years of separation.
In Shanghai Life was not easy. Claire typhoid pulled her to him and was maintained by Karl. When Japanese troops conquered Shanghai, Charles was forced as a Jew to go to the ghetto in the Hongkou district. Claire followed him, even though it could easily be a Catholic divorce her husband can.
In Shanghai Karl lightning became aware of the Chinese characters. A Chinese teacher told him that Chinese texts can be read in different dialects of people who can not talk to each other. He learned some Chinese characters. He deciphered headlines of Chinese newspapers and translated them in English or German.
1942 discovered the writings of Professor Karl flash Basil Hall Chamberlain of the University of Tokyo. Chamberlain was of the view that one day ideograms would win a final victory over the phonetic fonts. This was perhaps the last straw for lightning to develop a Pasigrafie.
In 1946, after the end of World War II, Charles and Claire moved to Australia. In Sydney, however, Charles skills were not asked, and he had to be content with subordinate activities.
On weekends, the two researched in libraries and worked on the development of " a font for a world and the understanding of all language barriers ." The first name for this project was "World Writing" ( = World Scripture ), they opted for a slightly more international name and coined the English name Semantography ( from the Greek " sema " sign = " graphein " = write).
1949 published his work flash " International Semantography: A non- alphabetical symbol writing readable in all languages " ( Semantographie: A non -alphabetic symbol font that is readable in all languages).
This Semantographie was rated by Bertrand Russell and Lancelot Hogben positive, but otherwise met only little interest.
Claire sent 1949-1953, more than 6,000 letters with information about the Semantographie at universities and educators around the world. But these efforts were to no avail. On August 14, 1961 Claire died.
In 1971, a Canadian organization for the disabled - after the sighting of several similar projects - for a vote Semantographie for communication with cerebral palsy children to use. At this target group lightning had not originally intended, but in 1975 he granted the Canadian Blissymbolics Communication Foundation an exclusive license for the use of its symbols. With the use of its Semantographie but he was not satisfied at all.