You Can See in Numbers

‘We are extremely sad to announce that Professor Hans Rosling died this morning. Hans suffered from a pancreatic cancer which was diagnosed one year ago. He passed away early Tuesday morning, February 7, 2017, surrounded by his family in Uppsala, Sweden.’ Anna R. Rönnlund & Ola Rosling, Co-founders of Gapminder. He died aged 68.

Hans Rosling, preparing his presentation in Geneva, 2009-10-30              Photo: A. Grossenbacher

In 2009, the Swiss Statistics’ Meeting took place in Geneva, Switzerland. Hans Rosling was there and his talk’s topic: ‘Unveiling the beauty of statistics’. He wanted data to be free, free from legal and technical barriers. His ambition – and his success – was to disseminate these data beautifully … in order to change the world.

A difficult task. In an interview in the Guardian, in 2013: “It’s that I became so famous with so little impact on knowledge,” he says, when asked what’s surprised him most about the reaction he’s received. “Fame is easy to acquire, impact is much more difficult. …. He’s similarly nonplussed about being a data guru. “I don’t like it. My interest is not data, it’s the world. And part of world development you can see in numbers.”  (Taken from the Guardian interview 2013).

And that’s why statistics and the world need more people like Hans Rosling – more than ever!

A Statistician among the 100 Most Influential People in the World. Who is it?

Congratulations to You Hans! Das ist mehr als verdient für die gewaltige Leistung, mit Statistiken das Bewusstsein für die grossen Probleme zu schaffen und zur Veränderung der Welt beizutragen.

And here is his shortest talk – with his Stone Age-Gapminder tool.

North pole sea ice is melting more than before?

Hans Rosling (Source: Facebook Profile)

Unfortunately it seems as the North pole sea ice this year will melt more than it has done for many thousands of years. These are data from the Institute in Bremen, look at the red line and compare to the independent group in Denver that shows the ice now has same size as 2007. But what these data do not show is that it is thinner than 2007!

http://www.iup.uni-bremen.de:8084/amsr/ice_ext_n.png

www.iup.uni-bremen.de

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