Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
gaps in current knowledge visually notice-
able, so scientists could know where to
search for new elements. Ralph Lengler
and Martin J. Eppler (2006) designed an
impressive interactive presentation of one
hundred visualization methods, titled “A
Periodic Table of Visualization Methods,”
where the data are presented on several
levels. The general design of this visualiza-
tion follows the construct of the periodic
table of chemical elements; different types
of visualization pop up upon touching the
screen of the Visual-Literacy.org: http://
www.visual-literacy.org/periodic_table/
periodic_table.html;
• A Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist Carl
Jung (1875-1965) constructed a round
house in a low populated area to create a
space where he could work without distrac-
tions. He created visualization of his scien-
tific ideas on the walls of his building. As
a Japanese writer Haruki Murakami (2011,
p. 871) described it, “He created paintings
himself on the wall. These were suggestive
of the development and split in individual
consciousness. The whole house func-
tioned as a sort of three-dimensional man-
dala. It took him twelve years to complete
the entire work.” For Jungian researchers,
it's an extremely intriguing building;
• Santiago Ramon y Cajal was a doctor, also
trained as an artist, who won the Nobel
Prize in 1906. Using a new staining tech-
nique to examine the brain tissue, Ramon
y Cajal created precise drawings that are
used even today in neuroscience courses.
Building on this visual presentation, he
discovered that the brain was made of dis-
crete neurons (e.g., http://retina.umh.es/
webvision/imageswv/drwCajal.jpeg);
• A map used by Dr. Snow to chart the pat-
terns of an epidemic in London is famous
early data visualization. It shows a rela-
tionship between the disease and the water
sources. The map made possible to locate
the source of cholera that had taken more
than 500 lives in 1854 (this case was de-
scribed by Edward Tufte, 1983, 1992, p. 24).
At this time people were unfamiliar with a
connection between cholera and water. Dr.
Snow suspected the cholera outbreak was
connected with water, so he plotted the ad-
dresses of people who died because of epi-
demic on a map of London and then added
wells on the map. Visualization of two sets
of data: deaths and wells laid one over an-
other as a display on a map, provided Dr.
Snow with a powerful visual tool that was
explanatory because it showed the causal
link. This visual tool enabled Dr. Snow to
point a well on the Broad Street as a source
of the epidemic (http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/File:Snow-cholera-map-1.jpg). Then
the local city council removed the pump
handle from the Broad Street well, thus
suppressing the epidemic. This kind of
graphic visualization is currently used by
geographic information systems;
•
In 1861 Charles Joseph Minard (1781-
1870) designed perhaps the most cited in-
formation visualization. He created a map
of Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812
(http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/post-
ers; or http://mappery.com/Napoleon's-
Invasion-of-Russia-Map). Minard visual-
ized the Napoleon's campaign using several
variables: the size of the army, its location
on a 2-D surface (along with the names
of rivers they crossed), time and direction
of movement of the French army in both
directions, temperature on various dates,
and also geographical information such as
rivers. One copy of this graph might serve
as an adequate resource for writing a topic
about the event.
We are surrounded by visualizations in our
everyday routines. On a TV screen, visualizations
