Charles Joseph Minard (; ; 27 March 1781 – 24 October 1870) was a French
civil engineer recognized for his significant contribution in the field of
information graphics
Infographics (a clipped compound of "information" and " graphics") are graphic visual representations of information, data, or knowledge intended to present information quickly and clearly.Doug Newsom and Jim Haynes (2004). ''Public Relations Wr ...
in civil engineering and statistics. Minard was, among other things, noted for his representation of numerical data on geographic maps, especially his
flow map
A flow map is a type of thematic map that uses linear symbols to represent movement. It may thus be considered a hybrid of a map and a flow diagram. The movement being mapped may be that of anything, including people, highway traffic, trade goods ...
s.
Early life
Minard was born in
Dijon
Dijon (, , ) (dated)
* it, Digione
* la, Diviō or
* lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920.
The earlies ...
in the Saint Michel parish. He was the son of Pierre Etienne Minard and Bénigne Boiteux. His father was a clerk of the court and an officer of the secondary school. Minard was baptized at Saint Michel on the day of his birth.
[ From Posted by Edward Tufte.] He was very bright and his father encouraged him to study at an early age. At age four he learned to read and write, and when he was six his father enrolled him in an elementary course in anatomy. He completed his fourth year of study at the secondary school at Dijon early, and then applied himself to studying Latin, literature, and physical and math sciences.
[ At age 15 and a half, he was admitted to the prestigious ]École Polytechnique
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, Savoi ...
, where he studied from 1796 to 1800. He subsequently studied civil engineering at École nationale des ponts et chaussées
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, Savoi ...
(ca. 1800–1803).
Work
Civil engineering
In September 1810 he was sent by the government to Antwerp and then almost immediately to the port of Flushing
Flushing may refer to:
Places
* Flushing, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom
* Flushing, Queens, New York City
** Flushing Bay, a bay off the north shore of Queens
** Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), a community in Queens
** Flushin ...
in Zeeland
, nl, Ik worstel en kom boven("I struggle and emerge")
, anthem = "Zeeuws volkslied"("Zeelandic Anthem")
, image_map = Zeeland in the Netherlands.svg
, map_alt =
, m ...
. There, he solved a critical problem with a cofferdam
A cofferdam is an enclosure built within a body of water to allow the enclosed area to be pumped out. This pumping creates a dry working environment so that the work can be carried out safely. Cofferdams are commonly used for construction or re ...
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.[
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 School of Bridges and Roads, where he continued to serve through 1836. While there he was awarded the cross of the Legion of Honor. From 1839 he was inspector of the Corps of Bridges, and from 1846 inspector general and a permanent member of the ]Conseil général des ponts et chaussées
The Conseil général des Ponts et Chaussées (CGPC "Civil Engineering General Council") is one of the oldest institutions in France and the direct heir of the assembly of inspectors general of bridges and roads, which met regularly from 1747 und ...
. He retired in 1851 at the mandatory retirement
Mandatory retirement also known as forced retirement, enforced retirement or compulsory retirement, is the set age at which people who hold certain jobs or offices are required by industry custom or by law to leave their employment, or retire.
As ...
age of 70, after which he dedicated himself to private research, including most famously the creation of a comprehensive body of statistical maps.
Information graphics
Minard created 51 thematic map
A thematic map is a type of map that portrays the geographic pattern of a particular subject matter (theme) in a geographic area. This usually involves the use of map symbols to visualize selected properties of geographic features that are not ...
s during his lifetime and is considered "a cartographic pioneer in many respects".
Early works
Minard's earliest known diagram is from 1825, 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.
Flow maps
Minard created his "revolutionary" first flow map
A flow map is a type of thematic map that uses linear symbols to represent movement. It may thus be considered a hybrid of a map and a flow diagram. The movement being mapped may be that of anything, including people, highway traffic, trade goods ...
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.
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.
The map of Napoleon's Russian campaign
Minard is best known for his cartographic depiction of numerical data on a map of Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
's disastrous losses suffered during the Russian campaign of 1812 (in French,
Carte figurative des pertes successives en hommes de l'Armée Française dans la campagne de Russie 1812–1813
'). The illustration depicts Napoleon's army departing the Polish-Russian border. A thick band illustrates the size of his army at specific geographic points during their advance and retreat. It displays six types of data in two dimensions: the number of Napoleon's troops; the distance traveled; temperature; latitude and longitude; direction of travel; and location relative to specific dates without making mention of Napoleon; Minard's interest lay with the travails and sacrifices of the soldiers.[ This type of band graph for illustration of flows was later called a ]Sankey diagram
Sankey diagrams are a type of flow diagram in which the width of the arrows is proportional to the flow rate.
Sankey diagrams can also visualize the energy accounts, material flow accounts on a regional or national level, and cost breakdowns. ...
, although Matthew Henry Phineas Riall Sankey
Matthew Henry Phineas Riall Sankey (9 November 1853 – 3 October 1925) was an Irish-born engineer and captain in the Royal Engineers, known as the creator of the Sankey diagram.
Biography
Sankey was born at Nenagh in County Tipperary in 1 ...
used this visualisation 30 years later and only for thematic energy flow.
The original description in French accompanying the map translated to English:
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
Eugène Rouher (30 November 18143 February 1884) was a French statesman of the Second Empire.
He was born at Riom (Puy-de-Dôme), where he practised law after taking his degree in Paris in 1835. In 1846 he sought election to the Chamber of D ...
, the secretary of agriculture, commerce, and public works in the government of Napoleon III
Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...
, 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.
Modern information scientists say the 1869 map of Napoleon's Russian campaign may be the best statistical graphic ever drawn.[ French scientist, physiologist and chronophotographer ]Étienne-Jules Marey
Étienne-Jules Marey (; 5 March 1830, Beaune, Côte-d'Or – 15 May 1904, Paris) was a French scientist, physiologist and chronophotographer.
His work was significant in the development of cardiology, physical instrumentation, aviation, cinema ...
praised "its brutal eloquence, which seems to defy the pen of the historian". Information designer Edward Tufte
Edward Rolf Tufte (; born March 14, 1942), sometimes known as "ET",. is an American statistician and professor emeritus of political science, statistics, and computer science at Yale University. He is noted for his writings on information design ...
says it "may well be the best statistical graphic ever drawn" and uses it as a prime example in ''The Visual Display of Quantitative Information''. Howard Wainer
Howard Wainer (born 1943) is an American statistician, past principal research scientist at the Educational Testing Service, adjunct professor of statistics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and author, known for his cont ...
identified Minard's map as a "gem" of information graphics, nominating it as the "World's Champion Graph". ''The Economist'' described it as one of "three of history's best" charts.
References
Further reading
* Rendgen, Sandra (2018)
''The Minard System. The Complete Statistical Graphics of Charles-Joseph Minard.''
New York, Princeton Architectural Press, 2018, .
* Michael Friendly
Michael Louis Friendly (born 1945) is an American-Canadian psychologist, Professor of Psychology at York University in Ontario, Canada, and director of its Statistical Consulting Service, especially known for his contributions to graphical metho ...
(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.
*
* 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
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Minard, Charles Joseph
1781 births
1870 deaths
Engineers from Dijon
École Polytechnique alumni
French civil engineers
Information graphic designers
Information visualization experts