| Field | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Business | 19.2% |
| Health professions and related programs | 11.4% |
| Social sciences and history | 8.8% |
| Psychology | 6.2% |
| Biological and biomedical sciences | 5.8% |
| Engineering | 5.2% |
| Visual and performing arts | 5.1% |
| Education | 4.8% |
| Communication, journalism, and related programs | 4.8% |
| Homeland security, law enforcement, and firefighting | 3.3% |
| Computer and information sciences | 3.1% |
| Parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies | 2.6% |
| Multi/interdisciplinary studies | 2.5% |
| English language and literature/letters | 2.4% |
| Liberal arts and sciences, general studies, and humanities | 2.3% |
| Agriculture and natural resources | 1.9% |
| Public administration and social services | 1.8% |
| Physical sciences and science technologies | 1.6% |
| Family and consumer sciences/human sciences | 1.3% |
| Mathematics and statistics | 1.2% |
| Foreign languages, literatures, and linguistics | 1.0% |
| Engineering technologies | 0.9% |
| Philosophy and religious studies | 0.6% |
| Theology and religious vocations | 0.5% |
| Architecture and related services | 0.5% |
| Area, ethnic, cultural, gender, and group studies | 0.4% |
| Communications technologies | 0.3% |
| Transportation and materials moving | 0.2% |
| Legal professions and studies | 0.2% |
| Military technologies and applied sciences | 0.0% |
| Library science | 0.0% |
| Precision production | 0.0% |
| Not classified by field of study | 0.0% |
The History of Data Vizualization
We’ve been doing this for a long long time…
Why it matters
Data visualization helps us make sense of large amounts of information quickly.
Cave paintings
Lascaux (~40,000 years ago)
Astronomical illustrations of constellations
This painting could represent a record of a comet strike that visited earth some 15,200 years ago.
Humans love stories 🙂
Star Charts
Dunhuang map (Tang dynasty, 618 - 907 CE)
First known graphical representations of stars from ancient Chinese astronomy
The world’s oldest complete preserved star atlas
Tracking History
Khipu Code (1400 - 1532 CE)
Inka history in knots.
Knotted string devices communicated complex mathematics and narrative info.
Contain tens of thousands of knots tied by different people, for various purposes and in various regions of the empire.
Ancient Maps (5000 BCE - 200 CE)
Babylonian world map (600 BCE)
Ptolemy’s world map (150 CE)
Medieval & Renaissance (1200s-1600s)
Ibn al-Wardi’s atlas of the world
(14th century)
Joan Blaeu’s world map
(c1665)
1665
Modern
Origins of Statistical Graphics (1600s)
Christoph Scheiner (1613)
Used drawings to show sunspots
Origins of Statistical Graphics (1600s)
René Descartes (1637)
Developed the Cartesian coordinate system
Origins of Statistical Graphics (1600s)
John Graunt (1662)
First statistical analysis of mortality (early epidemiology)
First Graphs and Charts (1700s-1800s)
Joseph Priestley (1765)
Created the first timeline charts
Priestley’s timelines proved a commercial success and a popular sensation
First Graphs and Charts (1700s-1800s)
William Playfair (1780s-1800s)
His graphs showed economic data, making information more accessible
19th Century: Famous Infographics
Florence Nightingale (1858)
Rose Diagram showed how poor sanitation killed more soldiers than battle
19th Century: Famous Infographics
Charles Minard (1869)
Napoleon’s March to Moscow → combined geography, temperature, and casualties in one powerful chart
Statistical Foundations (1800s-1900s)
Karl Pearson (1895)
Gave us histograms, correlation, and statistics in the 1900s
Statistical Foundations (1800s-1900s)
W.E.B. Du Bois (1900 Paris Exposition)
Used data visualizations to showcase the progress of Black Americans post-slavery
Computers and New Techniques
Mary Eleanor Spear (1969)
Taught Graphic Representation of Statistics and created first boxplot.
Computers and New Techniques
John Tukey (1960s)
Created exploratory data analysis (EDA) techniques, typically credited for the boxplot 😤
Computers and New Techniques
Edward Tufte (1980s)
Prioritize high Data-to-Ink Ratios
Advocated for clear, truthful data visualizations
Computers and New Techniques
Edward Tufte (1980s)
Innovated comparison and time-series plots
Computers and New Techniques
IBM and early computing (1960s-80s)
Computers brought on the rise of digital visualizations!
Conclusion
Ancient visuals
Playfair’s charts
Florence Nightingale
Modern visuals
