Florence Nightingale, Visual Storyteller

A new book on Florence Nightingale reveals how the 19th century nurse, social reformer and statistician made the case for health reforms in the British Army. Author RJ Andrews describes in Scientific American how Nightingale "designed graphics to attract attention and engage readers in ways other media could not."

While her competitors "buried stuffy graphic analysis inside thick books, Nightingale packaged her charts in attractive slim folios, integrating diagrams with witty prose. Her charts were accessible and punchy. Instead of building complex arguments that required heavy work from the audience, she focused her narrative lens on specific claims."

It's data storytelling that holds up more than 150 years later.