Sholes

Sholes is a surname. The most notable bearer is Christopher Latham Sholes (1819–1890), an American newspaper editor and inventor who co-designed the first practical typewriter. In partnership with Carlos Glidden and Samuel W. Soulé, Sholes developed the Sholes and Glidden typewriter, which was sold by Remington in 1874 as the Remington No. 1 and became the first commercially successful typewriter. The device used typewriter typebars and a keyboard arrangement designed to reduce key conflicts during typing.

The keyboard layout he and his colleagues devised, now known as QWERTY, arranged letters on the top row to ease mechanical operation and to prevent jamming on early typewriters. The layout, named after the first six letters on the top row, became the de facto standard for English-language keyboards and remains widely used in modern computer keyboards.

Sholes' work is often cited as pivotal in the commercial adoption of the typewriter and the emergence of office work culture in the late 19th century. The surname Sholes is primarily associated with Christopher Latham Sholes and his collaborators; other individuals with the surname are less documented in English-language sources.