Joseph priestley chart of biography for kids
Data Visualization and the Modern Imagination
- Title:
- A New Chart of History
- Physical Description:
- 1 map : hand colored ; in
- Date:
- 1769
- Imprint:
- 1769
- Genre:
- Map
- Notes:
- First edition of Joseph Priestly's rare broadside chart of history, dedicated to his friend, Benjamin Franklin. Priestly's chart is generally regarded as the most influential time line of the 18th Century. Offered here in the exceedingly rare first edition. Joseph Priestley, FRS (1733 – 1804) was an 18th-century English theologian, natural philosopher, chemist, educator, and political theorist who published over 150 works. He is generally credited with the discovery of oxygen. Among his major accomplishments were the invention of soda water, his writings on electricity, and his discovery of several "airs" (gases), the most famous being what Priestley dubbed "dephlogisticated air" (oxygen). Priestley believed that a proper understanding of the natural world would promote human progress and eventually bring about the Christian Millennium. Priestley, who strongly believed in the free and open exchange of ideas, advocated toleration and equal rights for religious dissenters, which also led him to help found Unitarianism in England. The controversial nature of Priestley's publications combined with his outspoken support of the French Revolution aroused public and governmental suspicion; he was eventually forced to flee, in 1791, first to London, and then to the United States, after a mob burned down his home and church. He spent the last ten years of his life living in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. Priestley also made significant contributions to pedagogy, including the publication of a seminal work on English grammar, books on history, and he prepared some of the most influential early timelines. Priestley considered the study of history to be essential for worldly success as well as religious growth. He wrote histories of scien
Name Index in “The Chart of Biography”
Replication of “The Chart of Biography”
The full chart contained over 2,000 individuals, and in its physical form was “about three feet in length, and two feet in breadth”. The data frame contains data for all the the individuals in the chart extracted from the associated name index.
The individuals in the The Chart of Biography (1778 edition) can be viewed in the following table.
Friendly, Michael. 2006. “A Brief History of Data Visualization.” In Handbook of Computational Statistics: Data Visualization, edited by C. Chen, W. Härdle, and A Unwin. Vol. III. Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
Priestley, Joseph. 1764. A Chart of Biography. 1st ed.
———. 1765. “A Chart of Biography to the Right Honourable Hugh Lord Willoughby of Parham This Chart Is with the Greatest Respect and Gratitude Inscribed by His Lordship’s Most Obedient and Most Humble Servant Joseph Priestley.” London. http://explore.bl.uk/BLVU1:LSCOP-ALL:BLLSFX3360000000234303.
———. 1778. A Description of a Chart of Biography; with a Catalogue of All the Names Inserted in It, and the Dates Annexed to Them. 7th ed. London: J. Johnson.
Rosenberg, Daniel, and Anthony Grafton. 2013. Cartographies of Time: History of the Timeline. Princeton Architectural Press.
A Chart of Biography
1765 biographical chart by Joseph Priestley
In 1765, 18th-century British polymathJoseph Priestley published A Chart of Biography and its accompanying prose description as a supplement to his Lectures on History and General Policy. Priestley believed that the chart and A New Chart of History (1769) would allow students to "trace out distinctly the dependence of events to distribute them into such periods and divisions as shall lay the whole claim of past transactions in a just and orderly manner."
The Chart of Biography covers a vast timespan, from 1200 BC to 1800 AD, and includes two thousand names. Priestley organized his list into six categories: Statesman and Warriors; Divines and Metaphysicians; Mathematicians and Physicians (natural philosophers were placed here); Poets and Artists; Orators and Critics (prose fiction authors were placed here); and Historians and Antiquarians (lawyers were placed here). Priestley's "principle of selection" was fame, not merit; therefore, as he mentions, the chart is a reflection of current opinion. He also wanted to ensure that his readers would recognize the entries on the chart. Priestley had difficulty assigning all of the people listed to individual categories; he attempted to list them in the category under which their most important work had been done. Machiavelli is therefore listed as a historian rather than a statesman and Cicero is listed as a statesman instead of an orator. The chart was also arranged in order of importance; "statesmen are placed on the lower margin, where they are easier to see, because they are the names most familiar to readers."
Both Charts were popular for decades—the A New Chart of History went through fifteen editions by 1816. The trustees of Warrington were so impressed with Priestley's lectures and charts that they arranged for the University of Edinburgh to grant him a Doctor of La
This is a development preview of our digital recreation of Joseph Priestley's full Chart of Biography. It shows when important figures in history lived and died. Our digital recreation, which closely resembles the original, is generated algorithmically based on data from Priestley's book on the subject. When fully developed, the digital chart of biography will represent a wide variety of historical data. It will support several kinds of quantitative and geographic analysis. And it will allow the user to determine different kinds of organization, grouping historical figures for example, by language, country of origin, education, and so forth.
Hover over a name in the digital recreation to see name and lifespan data. Click on a name to see the record in Priestley's Original Text and view their Wikipedia page at the bottom of the chart. Use the list on the Actions menu to filter which names are drawn on the chart.
Orignial chartPriestley's Original TextDigital recreation
Currently displaying: All People
Click on a name to view their Wikipedia page. If there is not one, no link will be provided
- Where did joseph priestley die
- The Chart of Biography covers
- A Chart of Biography visualizes the
- First edition of Joseph Priestly's rare broadside chart of history, dedicated to his friend, Benjamin Franklin. Priestly's chart is generally regarded as the most influential time line of the 18th Century. Offered here in the exceedingly rare first edition. Joseph Priestley, FRS (1733 – 1804) was an 18th-century English theologian, natural philosopher, chemist, educator, and political theorist who published over 150 works. He is generally credited with the discovery of oxygen. Among his major accomplishments were the invention of soda water, his writings on electricity, and his discovery of several "airs" (gases), the most famous being what Priestley dubbed "dephlogisticated air" (oxygen). Priestley believed that a proper understanding of the natural world would promote human progress and eventually bring about the Christian Millennium. Priestley, who strongly believed in the free and open exchange of ideas, advocated toleration and equal rights for religious dissenters, which also led him to help found Unitarianism in England. The controversial nature of Priestley's publications combined with his outspoken support of the French Revolution aroused public and governmental suspicion; he was eventually forced to flee, in 1791, first to London, and then to the United States, after a mob burned down his home and church. He spent the last ten years of his life living in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. Priestley also made significant contributions to pedagogy, including the publication of a seminal work on English grammar, books on history, and he prepared some of the most influential early timelines. Priestley considered the study of history to be essential for worldly success as well as religious growth. He wrote histories of scien