CityReads|Remembering Edutainer Hans Rosling,Who Made Data Dance

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Remembering Edutainer Hans Rosling,Who Made Data Dance and Taught us Fact-based Worldview

Hans Rosling combined enormous quantities of public data，mesmerizing graphics with a sport's commentator's style to reveal the story of the world's past, present and future development. In these strange times of alt-facts and fake news, Hans Rosling was a beacon of truth. 

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I was saddened to learn that Swedish professor Hans Rosling died at 68 this Tuesday. It is such a great loss. I remember he made a humorous prediction about when Asia would rise again in one of his TED talk, Asia’s rise: how and why. He deliberately chose his 100^th birthday and asked the audience to book a ticket for his TED talk on time. It was one of the best talks at TED. Hans Rosling might be the speaker who gave the most TED talks. He had ten under his name. Every talk is compelling and amusing and provides food for thought. It is very likely you will change your views of the world after watching his talks.

Hans Rosling was a professor of international health at Stockholm's Karolinska Institute, physician (he had worked as a physician in African for 20 years), researcher on global health, statistician, data visualization pioneer, and cofounder of GapMinder foundation. In his late career, he decided to "drop out" of the academia to devote his time into the mission to promote what he called a "fact-based worldview." He made data, his software and his works publicly available.

Rosling said, “We can have debates about what could or should be done, but that facts and an open mind are needed before informed discussions can begin.” “My interest is not data, it's the world. And part of world development you can see in numbers. Others, like human rights, empowerment of women, it's very difficult to measure in numbers”.

Hans Rosling's famous lectures combine enormous quantities of public data, mesmerising graphics with a sport's commentator's style to reveal the story of the world's past, present and future development. In 2010, in a BBC documentary, The Joy of Stats, he showed in just four minutes how lifespan and wealth had increased over the past 200 years — and how inequality between and within countries increased with it. (Learn more about the documentary, please refers to CityReads│The Joy of Stats).

https://v.qq.com/txp/iframe/player.html?vid=u0116ilzaus&width=500&height=375&auto=0

Rosling's most compelling work applied statistics to people's often-mistaken ideas of what was happening globally, causing them to question their assumptions about the state of global development. In these strange times of alt-facts and fake news, Hans Rosling was a beacon of truth.

Rosling's presentations are grounded in solid statistics, illustrated by the visualization software he developed. The animations transform development statistics into moving bubbles and flowing curves that make global trends clear, intuitive and even playful. During his legendary presentations, Rosling takes this one step farther, narrating the animations with a sportscaster's flair. What gives his work its persuasive force is not just rock-solid data and beautiful graphics but his personal passion and enthusiasm.

Hans Rosling called himself an "edutainer." As a teacher, I am mesmerized by the ways he organized the data to unveil the fact, the software he developed to analyze the data, the ways he visualized the data, the skills he told a story, and the passion and charisma when he talked. I totally agree with the fact-based worldview he had promoted.

In memory of Hans Rosling, watch some of his best talks. I wanted to use this post to reacquaint or introduce readers to some of the major examples of Hans Rosling's work.

The best stats you've ever seen

Rosling became famous with a 2006 TED talk on "The best stats you've ever seen." You've never seen data presented like this. With the drama and urgency of a sportscaster, statistics guru Hans Rosling debunks myths about the so-called "developing world."

This chart shows the Life Expectancy and Income of 182 nations in the year 2015.

How not to be ignorant about the world

How much do you know about the world? Hans Rosling, with his famous charts of global population, health and income data (and an extra-extra-long pointer), demonstrates that you have a high statistical chance of being quite wrong about what you think you know. Play along with his audience quiz — then, from Hans’ son Ola, learn 4 ways to quickly get less ignorant.

New insights on poverty

Researcher Hans Rosling uses his cool data tools to show how countries are pulling themselves out of poverty. He demos Dollar Street, comparing households of varying income levels worldwide. Then he does something really amazing to make a point that the seemingly impossible is possible.

Insights on HIV, in stunning data visuals

Hans Rosling unveils data visuals that untangle the complex risk factors of one of the world's deadliest (and most misunderstood) diseases: HIV. By following the data, he suggests a surprising key to ending the epidemic.

Let my dataset change your mindset

Hans Rosling uses his fascinating data-bubble software to burst myths about the developing world. Look for new analysis on China and the post-bailout world, mixed with classic data shows. We need a new mindset. The world is converging, but — but — but not the bottom billion. They are still as poor as they've ever been.

Asia's rise -- how and when

Hans Rosling was a young guest student in India when he first realized that Asia had all the capacities to reclaim its place as the world's dominant economic force. At TEDIndia, he graphs global economic growth since 1858 and predicts the exact date that India and China will outstrip the US.

Global population growth, box by box

The world's population will grow to 9 billion over the next 50 years — and only by raising the living standards of the poorest can we check population growth. This is the paradoxical answer that Hans Rosling unveils at TED@Cannes using colorful new data display technology (you'll see).

The good news of the decade? We're winning the war against child mortality

Hans Rosling reframes 10 years of UN data with his spectacular visuals, lighting up an astonishing — and under-reported — piece of front-page good news: We're winning the war against child death. Along the way, he debunks one flawed approach to stats that blots out such vital stories. There is no such thing as a "Western world" and "developing world."

The magic washing machine

What was the greatest invention of the industrial revolution? Hans Rosling makes the case for the washing machine. With newly designed graphics from Gapminder, Rosling shows us the magic that pops up when economic growth and electricity turn a boring wash day into an intellectual day of reading. Hans Rosling ended his talk saying "Thank you industrialization, steel mill, power station and chemical processing industry that gave us time to read books".

Religions and babies

Hans Rosling had a question: Do some religions have a higher birth rate than others — and how does this affect global population growth? Speaking at the TEDxSummit in Doha, Qatar, he graphs data over time and across religions. With his trademark humor and sharp insight, Hans reaches a surprising conclusion on world fertility rates.

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