1945 – Electron Density Map and Molecular Model of Penicillin

Electron density map and model of Penicillin created by Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin in 1945 based on her work on X-ray crystallography. The Penicillin molecule was the first molecule whose structure was derived entirely from X-ray data. Dorothy Hodgkin later received the Nobel price for applying the same technique to determine the structure of the B12 molecule. Dorothy Hodgkin (1910-94) was awarded the prestigious and exclusive Order of Merit in 1965 to add to her 1964 Nobel Prize for ”her […]

Electron density map and model of Penicillin created by Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin in 1945 based on her work on X-ray crystallography. The Penicillin molecule was the first molecule whose structure was derived entirely from X-ray data. Dorothy Hodgkin later received the Nobel price for applying the same technique to determine the structure of the B12 molecule. Dorothy Hodgkin (1910-94) was awarded the prestigious and exclusive Order of Merit in 1965 to add to her 1964 Nobel Prize for ”her determinations by X-ray techniques of the structures of important biochemical substances”. The Order of Merit is a group of 24 individuals of great achievement in the fields of the arts, learning, literature and science. Hodgkin was only the second woman to be part of the exclusive group - the first was Florence Nightingale. Sources: Hodgkin, Dorothy Crowfoot: The X-ray analysis of complicated molecules. Nobel Lecture, December 11, 1964. Image source: Science Museum, London. Blog of the Science Museum, London.

Added by: Yvonne Jansen. Category: Passive physical visualization Tags: chemistry, crystallography, electron model, penicillin, science

1985 – Using the Physical to Explain the Virtual

In this 1985 video, Rick Becker from AT&T Bell Labs explains the concept of "dynamic graphics". Already in the early 70s, statisticians like John Tukey were starting to experiment with multidimensional data visualization on flat computers screens, including 3D data visualizations that could be interactively rotated to convey depth. This video shows how enthusiastic these people were to transition from the physical to the virtual. Nevertheless, it is interesting to see that Rick Becker felt […]

In this 1985 video, Rick Becker from AT&T Bell Labs explains the concept of "dynamic graphics". Already in the early 70s, statisticians like John Tukey were starting to experiment with multidimensional data visualization on flat computers screens, including 3D data visualizations that could be interactively rotated to convey depth. This video shows how enthusiastic these people were to transition from the physical to the virtual. Nevertheless, it is interesting to see that Rick Becker felt the need to build a physical model to explain 3D scatterplots. Later in the video, he also uses a paper cube model to explain scatterplot matrices. Sources: Becker and McGill (1985) Dynamic Displays of Data. AT&T Bell Laboratories's video library. See video on youtube See other videos.

Added by: Pierre Dragicevic. Category: Passive physical visualization Tags: 3d scatterplot, statistical graphics

2011 – Warning: Real Time Global Air Quality Display

Warning - Real Time Global Air Quality Display is an installation of ambient display that receives data from the internet about the air quality in 30 cities in 5 continents. The installation of these data is dynamically displayed on a screen and a physical structure through a lighting system (LED) located in a public space. The motivations for this project are digital aesthetics of climate change created by Pold, (2010), that means artworks in digital art involving the issue of the environment […]

Warning - Real Time Global Air Quality Display is an installation of ambient display that receives data from the internet about the air quality in 30 cities in 5 continents. The installation of these data is dynamically displayed on a screen and a physical structure through a lighting system (LED) located in a public space. The motivations for this project are digital aesthetics of climate change created by Pold, (2010), that means artworks in digital art involving the issue of the environment as a theme and the concept of eco-visualization curated by Holmes (2007) that can be defined as animations controlled by data that show any kind of environmental information in real-time. Source: Rodrigo Medeiros. Warning - Real Time Global Air Quality Display (video)

Added by: Rodrigo Medeiros. Category: Passive physical visualization Tags: air pollution, air quality, ambient visualization, arduino, open source, processing

2011 – Adrien Segal's Data Furniture

Adrien Segal is an artist with a background in furniture design. She takes a data-driven approach where she uses data of natural events and environmental developments and transforms them into beautiful furniture. The choice of forms and materials conveys the origin of the data in an intriguing way. Left image: TRENDS IN WATER USE is a data sculpture that graphs national statistics of water usage in the United States over 50 years, from 1950 - 2000. The width of the canyon walls represent how […]

Adrien Segal is an artist with a background in furniture design. She takes a data-driven approach where she uses data of natural events and environmental developments and transforms them into beautiful furniture. The choice of forms and materials conveys the origin of the data in an intriguing way. Left image: TRENDS IN WATER USE is a data sculpture that graphs national statistics of water usage in the United States over 50 years, from 1950 - 2000. The width of the canyon walls represent how much water is used. Each river or tributary represents a specific category of water use based on the USGS report; Thermoelectric Power, Irrigation, Industrial, Public Supply, Domestic, and Mining/Aquaculture/Livestock/Rural (combined). The shape of the canyon as seen from above is derived from a map of the Colorado River in its entirety (Thermoelectric) and it’s main tributary, the Green River (Irrigation), as well as three smaller tributaries - accounting for all water (fresh and saline) withdrawn in the United States each day: 408,000 million gallons. Right image: SNOW WATER EQUIVALENT CABINET is a data sculpture illustrating snowpack measurements recorded at Ebbetts Pass in the Sierra Nevadas of California. Sourcing SNOTEL data archived on the National Water and Climate Center's website, 31 total water years of data are represented, from 1980 - 2010. The height of each drawer layer is relative to the annual total precipitation by year. The sculpted plywood front is a three dimensional graph of the amount of water in the snow-pack at any given time during the water year, showing specifically the first snowfall, peak amount of water, and final snowmelt as changes occur from year to year. The size of each drawer is directly related to the amount of water in the snowpack, the smaller the drawer the less water stored, and the less storage space available in the drawer. Check out the artist's website linked under sources for details of the data mappings used and the construction process. Sources: Adrien Segal. Project page for Trends in Water Use (2011). Adrien Segal. Instructable for Trends in Water Use. Adrien Segal. Project page for Snow Water Equivalent Cabinet (2011).

Added by: Yvonne Jansen. Category: Passive physical visualization Tags: data sculpture, furniture

2013 – Line Charts of Cortisol Levels

This data sculpture created by Nilam Ram from the Studio|Lab team at Penn State University shows the evolution of cortisol levels for 34 people after they experienced a stressful situation. Source: Nilam Ram (2013) Cortisol Data Sculpture.

Added by: Pierre Dragicevic. Category: Passive physical visualization Tags: cortisol, digital fabrication, laser cutting, line charts, medicine, stress, wood

2013 – SweatAtoms: Physical Activity Sculptures

Rohit Ashok Khot is a PhD student at the Exertion Games Lab at RMIT University in Melbourne who studies how physical visualizations of self-logged physical activity data can enhance the experience of exercising and perhaps provide an incentive for exercising more. Sources: Khot et al (2013) SweatAtoms project page Khot et al (2014) Understanding Physical Activity through 3D Printed Material Artifacts

Added by: Pierre Dragicevic. Category: Passive physical visualization Tags: physical exercise, self-logging

2014 – Building Visualizations with Tokens

Samuel Huron and his collaborators show how anyone can build their own visualizations by assembling physical tokens. Sources: Samuel Huron, Sheelagh Carpendale, Alice Thudt, Anthony Tang, Michael Mauerer (2014) Constructive Visualization (Web Page) Samuel Huron, Yvonne Jansen and Sheelagh Carpendale (2014) Constructing Visual Representations: Investigating the Use of Tangible Tokens (Web page)

Added by: Pierre Dragicevic. Category: Passive physical visualization Tags: authoring, casual visualization, manual update, rearrangeable, tokens, visualization for the masses

2014 – Blaue Blumen: Handcrafted Offline Data Visualization of Population Density

Physical visualization of the population density of the world. Handcrafted with toothpicks and a styrofoam ball. Based on data taken from this map. Source: Ewa Tuteja, (http://tuteja.info/blaueblumen/)

Added by: Krasser Terror. Category: Passive physical visualization Tags: cartographic, data sculpture, globe, hand-made

2014 – Water Works: Maps of the San Francisco Water Infrastructure

“Water Works” is a 3D data visualization and mapping of the water infrastructure of San Francisco. These consist of three large-scale 3D-printed sculptures, each generated by custom C++ code. The concept behind the project is to make visible a small portion of an invisible network of pipes underneath our feet. The three physical data visualizations are: "San Francisco Cisterns", “Imaginary Drinking Hydrants” and "Sewer Works". "Sewer Works" uses 60,000 data points from San Francisco sewers and […]

“Water Works” is a 3D data visualization and mapping of the water infrastructure of San Francisco. These consist of three large-scale 3D-printed sculptures, each generated by custom C++ code. The concept behind the project is to make visible a small portion of an invisible network of pipes underneath our feet. The three physical data visualizations are: "San Francisco Cisterns", “Imaginary Drinking Hydrants” and "Sewer Works". "Sewer Works" uses 60,000 data points from San Francisco sewers and pipes and shows the flow of wastewater and stormwater near the San Francisco Bay waterfront. "San Francisco Cisterns" maps the 170 underground cisterns of San Francisco that were mostly built in the years just after the 1906 Earthquake. "Imaginary Drinking Hydrants" depicts potable water faucets attached to specific fire hydrants for general public use. In 2006, the SFPUC created a series of “blue drop” hydrants, which would provide water in case of emergency (but without a drinking faucet). These hydrants would be opened up by city officials if there were a city-wide disaster. Just a few years after introducing 67 emergency drinking hydrants, the city unceremoniously discontinued the program. This is part of a Creative Code Fellowship sponsored by Gray Area, Stamen Design and Autodesk. Sources: Scott Kildall, Water Works Scott Kildall (blog), Water Works

Added by: Scott Kildall. Category: Passive physical visualization Tags: cartographic, cisterns, hydrants, infrastructure, san francisco, sewer, water

2014 – People Wood: Data Sculpture of Questionnaire Data

Manor House Development Trust, a charitable social enterprise centred in Hackney, commissioned Something & Son to create a sculpture to take pride of place in the new Redmond Community Centre at Woodbury Down in North-East Hackney. Something & Son approached Inition for help creating a crowd-sourced data sculpture featuring a forest of over 400 3D-printed trees, each corresponding to an individual’s answers to an online questionnaire. Source: Something & Son with Inition. People […]

Manor House Development Trust, a charitable social enterprise centred in Hackney, commissioned Something & Son to create a sculpture to take pride of place in the new Redmond Community Centre at Woodbury Down in North-East Hackney. Something & Son approached Inition for help creating a crowd-sourced data sculpture featuring a forest of over 400 3D-printed trees, each corresponding to an individual’s answers to an online questionnaire. Source: Something & Son with Inition. People Wood (2014)

Added by: Yvonne Jansen. Category: Passive physical visualization Tags: 3d printing, data sculpture, online data, questionnaire