ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the history of data visualization, an area that is central to scientific communication. As this chapter will show, data visualization has long been a powerful means for making sense of scientific, medical, and technological data, advancing arguments, and communicating information to others. After elaborating on the definition and roots of data visualization, this chapter will describe and illustrate significant moments in the evolution of data visualization. As these examples will show, data visualizations come in a variety of forms. They have not always been constructed specifically to advance finalized visual arguments but also as heuristics to analyze and interpret the specific issue at hand. Finally, this review will serve as a historical backdrop for contextualizing current trends and potential future directions in data visualization, including the effect of big data, technological advances, networked and interactive visualization, and humanistic approaches to data visualization.
