Edward Tufte

http://www.ercb.com/feature/feature.0008.html

Look at graph for Space Shuttle and temperatures

His website

http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/index

$180 student fee - Portland in July 2007

The heart of the book, a chapter entitled "Visual and Statistical Thinking," is based on analyses of the London cholera epidemic of 1854 and the Challenger disaster of 1986. The latter includes reproductions of defective graphs and charts used before the launch (by the Thiokol managers and engineers) and after (by the investigators). One can't help but be shocked by the carelessness with which the lives of the astronauts were thrown away by the NASA bureaucracy, and by how effectively the true roots of the disaster were subsequently swept under the carpet.

    "Above, a scatterplot shows the experience of all 24 launches prior to the Challenger [on January 28, 1986]. Like the table, the graph reveals the serious risks of a launch at 29. Over the years, the O-rings had persistent problems at cooler temperatures: indeed, every launch below 66 resulted in damaged O-rings; on warmer days, only a few flights had erosion. In this graph, the temperature scale extends down to 29, visually expressing the stupendous extrapolation beyond all previous experience that must be made in order to launch at 29. The coolest flight without any O-ring damage was at 66, some 37 warmer than predicted for the Challenger, the forecast of 29 is 5.7 standard deviations distant from the average temperature for previous launches. This launch was completely outside the engineering database accumulated in 24 previous flights." -- Visual Explanations, page 45.