Florence Nightingale, Statistical Graphics Pioneer

Science News has a fascinating look at an under-appreciated corner of the career of Florence Nightingale — as an innovator in the use of statistical graphics to argue for social change. Nightingale returned from the Crimean War a heroine in the eyes of the British citizenry, for the soldiers' lives she had saved. But she came to appreciate that the way to save far more lives was to reform attitudes in the military about sanitation. Under the tutelage of William Farr, who had just invented the field of medical statistics, she compiled overwhelming evidence (in the form of an 830-page report) of the need for change. "As impressive as her statistics were, Nightingale worried that Queen Victoria's eyes would glaze over as she scanned the tables. So Nightingale devised clever ways of presenting the information in charts. Statistics had been presented using graphics only a few times previously, and perhaps never to persuade people of the need for social change."

Comments

Reforming attitudes about sanitation???

[dos4who]

... this, coming from a woman who wholesalely was the greatest single cause of spreading V.D. amongst the troops. True. Look it up.

Re:Mod me down, but you know I'm right

[girlintraining]

So she didn't get to a high station because she was a woman in a society thats over 100 years dead, that really sucks for her, but only marginally relevant today.

The Holocaust is over 50 years dead now. It must have really sucked for them, but it's only marginally relevant today.
Slavery in this country is over 150 years dead now. It must have really sucked for them, but it's only marginally relevant today.
Some morons died for their country 200 years ago after signing something called a Constitution. It must have really sucked for them, but it's only marginally relevant today.

I've heard this line before. Maybe her name was in "all of those statistics books with a history section", maybe not, I'll never know without a citation. But I do know this: You haven't read much history at all, or if you have you've managed to retain a stunning lack of understanding of its relevance to make a statement like that one.