The First (Known) Statistical Graph: Michael Florent van Langren and the ``Secret'' of Longitude

• Michael Friendly, Pedro Valero-Mora, Joaquín Ibáñez Ulargui.
• The First (Known) Statistical Graph: Michael Florent van Langren and the ``Secret'' of Longitude.
• The American Statistician, vol. 64, no. 2, pp. 185–191, 2010.

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A 1644 diagram by Michael Florent van Langren, showing estimates of the difference in longitude between Toledo and Rome, is sometimes considered to be the first known instance of a graph of statistical data. Some recently discovered documents help to date the genesis of this graphic to before March, 1628, and shed some light on why van Langren chose to display this information in this form. In the process, we discovered three earlier versions of the 1644 graph and one slightly later reproduction. This article describes these early attempts on the solution of ``the problem of longitude'' from the perspective of a history of data visualization.

Keywords: data visualization; history of statistics; longitude; selenography; statistical historiography; thematic cartography; Michael Florent van Langren; uncertainty;

@Article{Friendly-etal2010langren,
  author = {Michael Friendly and Pedro Valero-Mora and Joaqu{\'i}n Ib{\'a}{\~n}ez Ulargui},
  title = {The First (Known) Statistical Graph: Michael Florent van Langren and the
                 ``Secret'' of Longitude},
  volume = {64},
  number = {2},
  pages = {185–191},
  month = {may},
  year = {2010},
  doi = {10.1198/tast.2010.09154},
  issn = {0003-1305 (print), 1537-2731 (electronic)},
  journal = {The American Statistician},
  url = {http://datavis.ca/papers/langren-TAS09154.pdf},
  supp = {http://datavis.ca/gallery/langren/},
}