Charles Joseph Minard
Charles Joseph Minard | |
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Born | 27 March 1781 information graphics |
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Charles Joseph Minard (
Early life
Minard was born in
Work
Civil engineering
In September 1810 he was sent by the government to Antwerp and then almost immediately to the port of Flushing in Zeeland. There, he solved a critical problem with a cofferdam that was leaking water faster than it could be removed. He solved the problem by using pumps driven by a steam engine, only the third time this solution had been applied to a project.[1]
He worked for many years as a civil engineer on the construction of dams, canals and bridge projects throughout Europe. On November 1, 1830, he was named superintendent of the
Information graphics
Minard created 51 thematic maps during his lifetime and is considered "a cartographic pioneer in many respects".[3]
Early works
Minard's earliest known diagram is from 1825,[2]: 16 but he did not start regularly producing statistical graphics until the 1840s. During this period he became interested in studying passenger and freight traffic to aid in the design of railroads. He created bar charts in which the width of each bar represents the length of the corresponding railroad segment, and its height the number of passengers. Analysis of such graphs led Minard to conclude that passengers and freight traveling for short distances between intermediate stations (and not just end-to-end traffic) were of primary importance in designing rail lines.[2]: 18
Flow maps
Minard created his "revolutionary"[2]: 40 first flow map in 1845 to inform the discussion about routing the rail line in the area between Dijon and Mulhouse. The map shows traffic on the pre-existing roads in the area. Two hundred copies of it were distributed to various stakeholders, and it dominated the debate among the deputies and engineers.[2]: 19
In subsequent decades Minard created tens of flow maps, illustrating subjects such as French wine exports and coal imports, British coal exports, freight traffic on French rivers and railways, European cotton imports, and international migration flows. A comprehensive portfolio of his works is today kept at the École nationale des ponts et chaussées.[2]: 33
The map of Napoleon's Russian campaign
Minard is best known for his cartographic depiction of numerical data on a map of
The original description in French accompanying the map translated to English:[6]
Figurative Map of the successive losses in men of the French Army in the Russian campaign 1812–1813.
Drawn by M. Minard, Inspector General of Bridges and Roads (retired). Paris, November 20, 1869.
The numbers of men present are represented by the widths of the colored zones at a rate of one millimeter for every ten thousand men; they are further written across the zones. The red designates the men who enter Russia, the black those who leave it. — The information which has served to draw up the map has been extracted from the works of M. M. Thiers, de Ségur, de Fezensac, de Chambray and the unpublished diary of Jacob, the pharmacist of the Army since October 28th.
In order to better judge with the eye the diminution of the army, I have assumed that the troops of Prince Jérôme and of Marshal Davout, who had been detached at Minsk and Mogilev and have rejoined near Orsha and Vitebsk, had always marched with the army.
A modern redrawing of the map, translated into English:
Recognition
Minard's information graphics, many of which illustrated the flows of goods and people in transportation networks, were appreciated by public works officials during his lifetime. Eugène Rouher, the secretary of agriculture, commerce, and public works in the government of Napoleon III, subscribed to Minard's prints, allowing him to publish ten thousand copies of maps on various subjects. Rouher also presented Minard's maps to Napoleon III and included one of them in the background of his portrait, exhibited at the 1861 Paris Salon.[2]: 26
Modern information scientists say the 1869 map of Napoleon's Russian campaign may be the best statistical graphic ever drawn.[4] French scientist, physiologist and chronophotographer Étienne-Jules Marey praised "its brutal eloquence, which seems to defy the pen of the historian".[7] Information designer Edward Tufte says it "may well be the best statistical graphic ever drawn"[8] and uses it as a prime example in The Visual Display of Quantitative Information.[9] Howard Wainer identified Minard's map as a "gem" of information graphics, nominating it as the "World's Champion Graph".[10] The Economist described it as one of "three of history's best" charts.[11]
References
- ^ a b c d Chevallier, V. (1871). "The Life of Charles Joseph Minard (1781–1870)". Finley, Dawn (translator). From "Notice nécrologique sur M. Minard, inspecteur général des ponts et chaussées, en retraite". Annales des ponts et haussées (in French). 2: 1–22. 1871. Posted by Edward Tufte.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-61689-633-1.
- ^ Arthur H. Robinson (1967), "The Thematic Maps of Charles Joseph Minard", Imago Mundi, Vol. 21, (1967), pp. 95–108
- ^ a b Corbett, John. "Charles Joseph Minard: Mapping Napoleon's March, 1861". Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science. Archived from the original on 19 June 2003. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
- ^ a b Corbett, John. "Charles Joseph Minard: Mapping Napoleon's March, 1861". Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science. Archived from the original on 19 June 2003. (CSISS website has moved; use archive link for article)
- ^ "Minard's Sources—from Virginia Tufte and Dawn Finley, August 7, 2002".
- ^ Marey, Étienne-Jules (1878). La méthode graphique dans les sciences expérimentales. As cited in Rendgen (2018), p. 8.
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: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Edward R. Tufte(2001). The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. p. 40
- ^ "Poster: Napoleon's March". Edward Tufte. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
- ^ Howard Wainer (1984). "How to Display Data Badly". In: American Statistician 38 (2): p. 146 (pp. 136–147).
- ^ "Worth a thousand words". The Economist. 7 October 2013. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
Further reading
- Rendgen, Sandra (2018): The Minard System. The Complete Statistical Graphics of Charles-Joseph Minard. New York, ISBN 9781616896331.
- Michael Friendly (2002). "Visions and re-visions of Charles Joseph Minard". Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics. 27 (1), 31 – 52.
- Minard, Charles-Joseph. Des Tableaux graphiques et des cartes figuratives, par M. Minard,... Thunot, 1862.
- Robinson, Arthur H."The thematic maps of Charles Joseph Minard". Imago Mundi 21 (1967): 95–108.
- ISBN 0-9613921-4-2.
- Wainer, Howard. "Visual Revelations: A Graphical Legacy of Charles Joseph Minard: Two Jewels from the Past". Chance 16.1 (2003): 58–62.
- The Underappreciated Man Behind the "Best Graphic Ever Produced: He's known for his acclaimed depiction of Napoleon's ill-fated invasion of Russia. But Charles Minard was full of innovative visualizations. National Geographic, By Betsy Mason MARCH 16, 2017.
- Finding Minard, March 16, 2017.
- Charles Radiguet is the great-great grandson of Charles Joseph Minard. He visited the SS Nomadic in Belfast, which was named after Charles Joseph Minard (https://twitter.com/ssnomadic/status/760177082370449409?lang=en)
External links
- Comprehensive collection of digitized works by Minard (writings and maps), École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées
- Background on Minard's graph including original sources, Edward Tufte
- The Graphic Works of Charles Joseph Minard, Michael Friendly, York University (Ontario) Department of Psychology
- Minard biography, Michael Friendly
- Re-Visions of Minard, Michael Friendly
- Grime, Dr. James. "The Greatest Ever Infographic" (video). Brady Haran. Archived from the original on 2021-12-19. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
- "Digital collection of cards and documents of Charles-Joseph Minard, kept in École nationale des ponts et chaussées's library". École nationale des ponts et chaussées. Retrieved 24 June 2016.