"All 1,943 Cornell Faculty were asked to respond to the following question: Of the many charts (graph, map, diagram, table and ‘other’) you have seen in your life, which has been the most important, remarkable, meaningful or valuable?."
I haven't gotten through all of them, but I found these to be especially notable, all for entirely different reasons:
I saw this figure as an undergraduate student...and was amazed how Whittaker was able to show all terrestrial vegetation on one 2-D figure knowing only temperature and precipitation. Joseph Yavitt, Natural Resources.
The Tree of Life.... Based on an analysis of rRNA sequences, this...tree...puts the evolution of all life in perspective. Dan Buckley, Crop and Soil Sciences.
One wouldn't ordinarily think of this image as a graph, but it presents a plausibility argument about how perception is done.... The question is: How do we perceive and understand the shape of objects around us. James's image tells us, in ways much easier than any experiment could, that texture gives us sufficient clues..... James Cutting, Psychology
Obesity trends among adults. Carol Devine, Nutritional Sciences.
Cornell community members are invited to share their submission at the Mann Library. (via s1a)
