William Playfair
British polymath (1759–1823) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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For other people with the same name, see William Playfair (disambiguation).
William Playfair (22 September 1759 – 11 February 1823), a Scottish engineer and political economist, served as a secret agent on behalf of Great Britain during its war with France.[1] The founder of graphical methods of statistics,[2] Playfair invented several types of diagrams: in 1786 the line, area and bar chart of economic data, and in 1801 the pie chart and circle graph, used to show part-whole relations.[3] As a secret agent, Playfair reported on the French Revolution and organized a clandestine counterfeiting operation in 1793 to collapse the French currency.
Quick Facts Born, Died ...
William Playfair | |
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Born | (1759-09-22)September 22, 1759 Benvie, Forfarshire, Scotland |
Died | 11 February 1823(1823-02-11) (aged 63) London, England |
Known for | inventor of statistical graphs, writer on political economy, and secret agent for Great Britain |
Family | John Playfair (brother) James Playfair (brother) William Henry Playfair (nephew) |
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