Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure
.
.
Planetary movements shown as cyclic inclinations over time, by an unknown astronomer,
appearing in a
th-century appendix to commentaries by A.T. Macrobius on Cicero's In Somnium
Sciponis. Source:Funkhouser(
,p.
)
a work by Nicole Oresme [
-
] Bishop of Liseus
(Oresme,
,
), fol-
lowedsomewhatlater bytheideaofatheoretical graph ofdistance vs.speedbyNico-
las of Cusa.
Bythe
th century, techniques and instruments forprecise observation and mea-
surement of physical quantities and geographic and celestial position were well de-
veloped(forexample,a'wallquadrant' constructedbyTychoBrahe[
-
],cov-
eringanentirewallinhisobservatory). Particularly important werethedevelopment
of triangulation and other methods to determine mapping locations accurately (Fri-
sius,
; Tartaglia,
). As well, we see initial ideas for capturing images directly
(the camera obscura, used by Reginer Gemma-Frisius in
to record an eclipse
of the sun), the recording of mathematical functions in tables (trigonometric tables
by Georg Rheticus,
) and the first modern cartographic atlas (heatrum Orbis
Terrarum by Abraham Ortelius,
). hese early steps comprise the beginnings of
data visualization.
1600-1699: Measurement and Theory
1.2.2
Amongst the most important problems of the
th century were those concerned
with physical measurement - of time, distance and space - for astronomy, survey-
Funkhouser(
,p.
)wassu
cientlyimpressedwith Oresme'sgraspoftherelationbe-
tween functions and graphs that he remarked, 'If a pioneering contemporaryhad collected
some data and presented Oresme with actual figures to work upon, we might have had sta-
tistical graphs four hundred years before Playfair.'
