Charles K. Bliss

Charles K. Bliss
Born	Karl Kasiel Blitz 1897 Chernivtsi, Austria-Hungary
Died	1985
Citizenship	Ukraine Australia
Alma mater	Vienna University of Technology
Occupation	chemical engineer, semiotician
Known for	Inventor of Blissymbolics

Charles K. Bliss (1897–1985) was a chemical engineer and semiotician, and the inventor of Blissymbolics. He was born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and later gained Australian citizenship.

Bliss was born Karl Kasiel Blitz, the eldest of four children to Michel Anchel and Jeanette Blitz, in Chernivtsi in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (current Ukraine). The family were impoverished and the senior Blitz supported the family as an optician, mechanic, and wood turner.

Later on Bliss said that the symbols on his father's circuit diagrams made instant sense to him. They were a "logical language". He was similarly impressed by chemical symbols, which he thought could be read by anyone, regardless of their mother tongue.

Bliss's early life was difficult. It was cold and his family were poor and hungry. Because the family was Jewish, he suffered anti-Semitic taunts.

When Bliss was eight years old, Russia lost the Russo-Japanese War, Russian pogroms against the Jews accelerated, and refugees came into Bliss's town from the nearby Russian town of Kishinev. Also in 1905 Bliss saw a slide show of the Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition of Weyprecht and Payer. It inspired him to study engineering to improve technology for ordinary people.

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