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It seems from all the articles I read on the topic that Knuth actually designed the font from ground up. He's a celebrated computer scientist, but was he also a digital calligraphy genius? That's a little astonishing to my mind.

Jeromy Anglim
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Phonon
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  • AFAIR he was inspired by other fonts. At the EuroTeX conference in 2005 there was a panel with Knuth and Herman Zapf. Knuth was asked if he regretted something in the design of CM. He wasn't as happy with the design of the $. – daleif Jun 25 '14 at 08:10
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    Here is a write up from that panel http://tug.org/TUGboat/tb27-0/knuthzapf.pdf – daleif Jun 25 '14 at 08:13
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    The design of Computer Modern was inspired by Monotype Modern 8A. – egreg Jun 25 '14 at 08:27
  • It is not unusual for geniuses to be prolific in many areas of their life. – Steven B. Segletes Jun 25 '14 at 09:46
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    Considering he built a whole typesetting system, it doesn't seem all that far-fetched to create a font. :) – cHao Jun 25 '14 at 15:46
  • I'm afraid I must disagree (somewhat) with the assertion that Knuth is a digital [type design] genius. CM has a very distinctive look that immediately marks a document as "created with TeX". This is not good -- a typeface should not draw attention to itself, but facilitate people reading the document. Other aspects of his oeuvre, yes, a genius; but I wish he hadn't tried to design a new typeface. Perhaps he feared being sued for copyright or design patent infringement? – Phil Perry Jun 25 '14 at 17:34
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    @PhilPerry - I'm pretty sure that lawsuits over font-related copyright or design patent infringements weren't an issue in the late 70s and early 80s. In addition, I don't think it's right to blame a font for looking distinctive; instead, blame the people who use that font! Of course, CM was for many years the only font family that had full math support, and thus CM had to be employed for documents containing mathy material whether or not people cared for the font. Font designers simply never warmed to Metafont, and it's taken way too long to get new font families that have full math support. – Mico Jun 26 '14 at 05:18

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“Design” is a loaded term.

Knuth knowingly and intentionally copied the metal font Monotype Modern 8A, which was the font used to set the first edition of volumes 1-3 of The Art of Computer Programming.

He described the procedure he started with in his lecture on receiving the Kyoto Prize in 1996 — see especially page 93, near the top. (A google search for “knuth kyoto prize lecture” turns up some other interesting links as well.)

This is really a transcript of the text, not a “finished” article. (By 2022, the file is archived, with a Japanese translation interspersed with the English original.) The figures are collected on separate pages rather than inserted where they are referenced. This lecture is also the leadoff item in Knuth's book Digital Typography (which is recommended reading in any event), where it is polished for publication, and the illustrations appear in context. (A discount for this book is available when ordered through the TUG bookstore.)

The important features of Computer Modern / Monotype Modern 8A are reflected in the design of METAFONT — and that is truly a Knuth design.

barbara beeton
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