The Time Charts of Joseph Priestley:
a digital exploration
In the middle of the eighteenth century, the English scientist and theologian Joseph Priestley published two of the most important
data visualizations in modern history, the Chart of Biography (1765) which plotted the lives and deaths of famous people in
history, and the New Chart of History (1769), showing the rise and fall of empires. Priestley’s charts were enormously influential
in their time, and they continue to serve as models for how to draw timelines today. This project project explores the history and
the visual and the analytic logics of Priestley’s charts by making them interactive. Explore and enjoy!
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