Florence Nightingale, Huge Nerd (1855) w/ Tim Harford
This Day in Esoteric Political History
Jody Avirgan & Radiotopia
4.6 • 982 Ratings
🗓️ 4 March 2021
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s March 4th. This day in 1855, a British sanitary commission arrived in Istanbul to inspect a field hospital where soldiers were dying at alarming rates. Among the nurses treating the soldiers was Florence Nightingale, who would go on to make one of the most famous data analysis of the conditions at the hospital.
Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by writer Tim Harford to discuss Nightingales findings and how they influenced the world of data visualization — plus the perils of compelling graphics.
Tim’s podcast “Cautionary Tales” has a new season out now, which features the story of Nightingale. His newest book is “The Data Detective.”
Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from radiotopia. |
| 0:07.0 | My name is Jody African. |
| 0:09.0 | This day, March 4, 1855 in Istanbul, Turkey, a sanitary commission arrives at a hospital |
| 0:18.6 | that is treating wounded British soldiers from the Crimean War. |
| 0:22.2 | Istanbul, Wisconsin-Dinobel at the time, I believe there was a song about that. |
| 0:26.0 | Anyway, the soldiers at this hospital were dying at an alarming rate and not just from their wounds but from illness. Conditions in the hospital were horrific |
| 0:35.2 | and nurses at the field hospital were doing all they could to stem the tide. |
| 0:39.9 | Among the nurses was Florence Nightingale, perhaps the most famous nurse in history, and this |
| 0:45.1 | moment, this experience in hospitals during the Crimean War, would help establish her reputation |
| 0:50.8 | not just when it came to nursing but when it came to data |
| 0:54.0 | visualization as well because Florence Nightingale was able to tell a story |
| 0:58.2 | through data and graphics about how conditions at the hospital began to improve. |
| 1:04.0 | So a really fascinating story, |
| 1:05.3 | one that has lots of interesting echoes for today. |
| 1:08.4 | So here to discuss, as always, is Nicole Hammer of Columbia. |
| 1:11.8 | Hello, Nicki. Hello, Nicky. |
| 1:12.5 | Hello Jody. |
| 1:14.0 | And Kelly Carter Jackson of Wellesley. |
| 1:15.6 | Hello, Kelly. |
| 1:16.6 | Hey there. |
| 1:17.7 | And our special guest for this episode |
| 1:19.5 | is Tim Hartford, writer, economist. He's done many, many wonderful things that I am a fan of, but the |
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