In today’s world, data analytics and visualization have become an indivisible part of the industries. One cannot imagine processing of data without dashboards, data visuals, charts, graphs and stats. All these modern tools and techniques make understanding and processing data very convenient. Instead of convoluting the mind with intense number crunching, data visuals illustrate the same information, making the most of human’s unique photo memory.
This post isn’t about a visualization itself, but the origins of it. Born in Scotland in 1759, William Playfair, was a graphical illustrator who visualized and created amazing illustrations from pieces of information. His older brother John taught him that whatever could be expressed in number could be done using lines. This laid the foundation of many of his successful visualizations. Over time, he created many pie charts, graphs and bar graphs for data like Scotland’s trading partners, exports and imports and prices affected by war. He later assisted James Watt who streamlined the steam engine and served as his clerk copying complex drawings of his inventions. He went on to create the pie chart: dividing a circle into proportionate slices to represent corresponding data. Over time, his knowledge and acumen to understand and present data, helped him to create many such illustrations which would later lay down the basis of modern day visualizations.
Reference:http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-scottish-scoundrel-who-changed-how-we-see-data