{
  "id": "rtd-p-000243",
  "slug": "hari-govind-govil",
  "name": {
    "preferred": "Hari Govind Govil",
    "alternates": [
      "Hari G. Govil",
      "H. G. Govil"
    ]
  },
  "countries": [
    "India"
  ],
  "roles": [
    "type designer"
  ],
  "scripts": [
    "Devanagari"
  ],
  "bio": "Designed the Devanagari scheme for the Mergenthaler Linotype, launched in 1933 and patented in the US in 1937, splitting characters into combinable segments.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "url": "https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/101230/1/FR_PHS_DevArticle_29Aug21_02.pdf",
      "title": "Invisible hands: tracing the origins and development of the Devanagari Linotype - University of Reading",
      "type": "journal article",
      "publisher": "University of Reading",
      "language": "en",
      "archive_url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20251210053832/https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/101230/1/FR_PHS_DevArticle_29Aug21_02.pdf"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://invention.si.edu/invention-stories/devanagari-script-mergenthaler-linotype",
      "title": "Devanagari Script for the Mergenthaler Linotype - Smithsonian Lemelson Center",
      "type": "archive or museum record",
      "publisher": "Smithsonian Institution",
      "language": "en",
      "archive_url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260211075749/https://invention.si.edu/invention-stories/devanagari-script-mergenthaler-linotype"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/cd/50/8a/967d4d8ac5e597/US2074216.pdf",
      "title": "US Patent 2,074,216, Typographical font, H. G. Govil",
      "type": "government document",
      "publisher": "United States Patent Office",
      "date": "1937-03-16",
      "language": "en",
      "archive_url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20250329055446/https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/cd/50/8a/967d4d8ac5e597/US2074216.pdf"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://archive.org/details/naik-1971",
      "title": "Typography of Devanagari, Volume Two, pp. 401–403 (Bapurao S. Naik)",
      "type": "book",
      "publisher": "Directorate of Languages, Government of Maharashtra",
      "date": "1971",
      "language": "en"
    }
  ],
  "record_status": "active",
  "superseded_by": null,
  "created_at": "2026-10-19",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-19",
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  "api_url": "https://rtd.theofdn.org/api/people/rtd-p-000243.json",
  "typefaces": []
}