Ergonomics at the University of Siegen has a long tradition which has its roots in the beginning of the Polytechnics of Mechanical Engineering. At a time when many of the faculties of engineering were just beginning to accept that the characteristics of man play an important part in work design and the optimization of man-machine systems, ergonomics was already firmly established in Siegen. And it is not by chance that, for example, ideas of work physiology had a degree of influence, as work physiology can be considered the true origin of ergonomics in Germany. It is common knowledge that the first beginnings of work physiology developed at the turn of the twentieth century, when basic investigations of the human metabolism and energy consumption at work were of main interest. Since the majority of the original "unanswered questions" concerned with the energetic and physical functions of "man at work" were solved in the early days of ergonomic research, these topics are no longer the major part of lecture courses and research. Nowadays, major consideration is given to workload and its effects on man - particularly mental-nervous efforts and associated psycho-mental workload (otherwise known as "stress at work").