Leland Wilkinson

{{Short description|American statistician and computer scientist (1944–2021)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2021}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Leland Wilkinson | image = Leland Wilkinson.png | image_size = | image_upright = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1944|11|5}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{death date and age|2021|12|10|1944|11|5}} | death_place = [[Lake Forest, Illinois]], U.S. | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | nationality = | fields = | workplaces = {{plainlist|

• [[University of Illinois at Chicago]]
• [[Northwestern University]]
• [[SPSS]]
• [[SYSTAT (statistics package)|SYSTAT Software Inc.]]
• Skytree, Inc.
• [[Tableau Software]]
• {{Proper name|H2O.ai}} }} | patrons = | education = | alma_mater = {{plainlist|
• [[Harvard University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|A.B.]])
• [[Harvard Divinity School]] ([[Bachelor of Sacred Theology|S.T.B.]])
• [[Yale University]] ([[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]]) }} | thesis_title = The effect of involvement on similarity and preference structures | thesis_url = | thesis_year = 1975 | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = ''The [[Grammar of Graphics]]'' | influences = | influenced = | awards = | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | spouse = {{plainlist|
• {{marriage|Ruth Elaine VanDemark|1967|2012|reason=died}}
• {{marriage|Marilyn Vogel|2013}} }} | partner = | children = 2, including [[Amie Wilkinson]] | parents = | father = | mother = | relatives = [[Alec Wilkinson]] (brother) | signature = | signature_alt = | website = | footnotes = }}

'''Leland Wilkinson''' (November 5, 1944 – December 10, 2021) was an American [[statistician]] and [[computer scientist]] at {{Proper name|H2O.ai}} and adjunct professor of computer science at [[University of Illinois at Chicago]]. Wilkinson developed the [[SYSTAT (statistics package)|SYSTAT]] statistical package in the early 1980s, sold it to [[SPSS]] in 1995, and worked at SPSS for 10 years recruiting and managing the visualization team. He left SPSS in 2008 and became executive VP of SYSTAT Software Inc. in Chicago. He then served as the VP of data visualization at Skytree, Inc and VP of statistics at [[Tableau Software]] before joining {{Proper name|H2O.ai}}. His research focused on [[scientific visualization]] and [[statistical graphics]]. In these communities he was well known for his book ''[[Wilkinson's Grammar of Graphics|The Grammar of Graphics]]'', which was the foundation for the [[R (programming language)|R]] package [[ggplot2]].

==Early life== Wilkinson was born on November 5, 1944, to Kirk C. Wilkinson, an art editor of ''[[Woman's Day]]'' magazine.{{cite book|last1=Wilkinson|first1=Leland|last2=Wills|first2=Graham|last3=Wills|first3=D.|last4=Dubbs|first4=R.|last5=Norton|first5=A.|year=2006|title=The Grammar of Graphics|url={{Google books|NRyGnjeNKJIC|page=98|plainurl=yes}}|page=98}}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/06/24/archives/ruth-vandemark-becomes-a-bride.html |title=Ruth VanDemark becomes a bride |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 24, 1967 |access-date=December 14, 2021}} He is the brother of [[Alec Wilkinson]], a writer for ''[[The New Yorker]]''. He graduated from the [[Trinity-Pawling School]] in [[Pawling (village), New York|Pawling, New York]].

Wilkinson received a [[Bachelor of Arts]] from [[Harvard University]] in 1966, a [[Bachelor of Sacred Theology]] from [[Harvard Divinity School]] in 1969, and a [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] in psychology from [[Yale University]] in 1975.{{Cite web |url=http://www.spss.com/research/wilkinson/Publications/wilkinsonvita.pdf |title=Leland Wilkinson |date=2005 |website=[[SPSS]] |access-date=December 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061110113526/http://www.spss.com/research/wilkinson/Publications/wilkinsonvita.pdf |archive-date=November 10, 2006 |url-status=dead}} His thesis was titled ''The effect of involvement on similarity and preference structures''.

==Career== ===Academic career=== While attending Yale between 1974 and 1976, he served as an instructor of psychology. He became an assistant professor of psychology at [[University of Illinois at Chicago]] (UIC) in 1976 and was promoted to associate professor in 1980. In 1991, he became an adjunct professor of statistics at [[Northwestern University]]. He remained in that role until 2010. He rejoined UIC in 2007 as an adjunct professor of computer science.

Wilkinson was recognized as the primary author of the 1999 [[American Psychological Association]]'s guidelines for statistical methods in psychology journals.{{cite book|last=Osborne|first=Jason W.|title=Best Practices in Data Cleaning|year=2013|url={{Google books|-5-9GDCQPHoC|page=13|plainurl=yes}}|page=13}}

===Professional career=== Wilkinson wrote [[SYSTAT (statistics package)|SYSTAT]], a statistical software package, in the early 1980s. This program was noted for its comprehensive graphics,{{cite journal | doi=10.1007/BF01889683 | volume=2 | title=SYSTAT/SYGRAPH and Micro-TSP | year=1992 | journal=Statistics and Computing | pages=231–236 | last1 = Jarrett | first1 = Jeffrey| issue=4 | s2cid=119499841 | url=https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/cba_facpubs/466 }} including the first software implementation of the [[heatmap]] display now widely used among biologists. After his company grew to 50 employees, he sold it to [[SPSS]] in 1995. At SPSS, he assembled a team of graphics programmers who developed the nViZn platform {{Cite web |url=http://www.galaxy.gmu.edu/interface/I01/I2001Proceedings/LJones/LJones.pdf |title=Statistical Visualization of Environmental Data on the Web Using nViZn |last1=Jones |first1=Lacey |last2=Symanzik |first2=Jürgen |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005214627/http://www.galaxy.gmu.edu/interface/I01/I2001Proceedings/LJones/LJones.pdf |archive-date=October 5, 2011 |url-status=dead}} that produces the visualizations in [[SPSS]], [[SPSS Modeler|Clementine]], and other analytics products. The nViZn platform was modeled after Wilkinson's 1999 book on statistical graphics, ''The Grammar of Graphics''.Leland Wilkinson, ''The Grammar of Graphics'', Springer, 1999. {{ISBN|0-387-98774-6}}. [https://www.springer.com/statistics/computational/book/978-0-387-24544-7 at Springer] This book also served as the foundation for the [[R (programming language)|R]] package [[ggplot2]],{{Cite journal |url=https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/ggplot2/index.html |title=ggplot2: Create Elegant Data Visualisations Using the Grammar of Graphics |website=[[CRAN (R programming language)]] |date=June 25, 2021 |access-date=December 14, 2021}} the [[Python (programming language)|Python]] Bokeh package,{{cite web |title=Bokeh |url=https://github.com/ContinuumIO/Bokeh |publisher=[[GitHub]] |access-date=July 17, 2013}} the R package ggbio,{{cite journal |last=Lawrence |first=Michael |title=ggbio: an R package for extending the grammar of graphics for genomic data |year=2012 |volume=13 |issue=8 |article-number=R77 |journal=Genome Biology |doi=10.1186/gb-2012-13-8-r77 |pmid=22937822 |pmc=4053745 |doi-access=free }} the [https://vega.github.io/vega/ Vega] declarative language, and helped shape the Polaris project at [[Stanford University]].{{Cite web |url=http://www.graphics.stanford.edu/projects/polaris/ |title=Polaris, interactive database visualization |website=[[Stanford University]] |access-date=December 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211021043340/http://graphics.stanford.edu/projects/polaris/ |archive-date=October 21, 2021 |url-status=live}}

Wilkinson served as the vice president of statistics at [[Tableau Software]], where he continued to work on scientific visualization and statistical graphics. In 2016, he became a chief scientist at {{Proper name|H2O.ai}} to lead a data visualization push;{{Cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/machine-learning-co-h2o-ai-hires-leland-wilkinson-to-lead-data-visualization-drive-1461159049 |title=Machine Learning Co. H2O.ai Hires Leland Wilkinson to Lead Data Visualization Drive |last=Zakrzewski |first=Cat |date=April 20, 2016 |access-date=December 14, 2021 |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |url-access=subscription}} he remained in that role until his death in 2021.{{cite web |title=VP, STATISTICS {{!}} Leland Wilkinson |url=https://research.tableau.com/user/leland-wilkinson |website=research.tableau.com |publisher=Tableau Research |access-date=December 14, 2021}}

==Personal life== Wilkinson married Reverend Ruth Elaine VanDemark on June 23, 1967. She died in 2012.{{Cite web |url=https://www.isba.org/barnews/2012/07/19/rev-ruth-e-van-demark-1944-2012 |title=Rev. Ruth E. Van Demark 1944–2012 |date=July 19, 2012 |website=Illinois State Bar Association |access-date=December 14, 2021}} Together, they were the parents of [[Amie Wilkinson]], a professor of mathematics at [[University of Chicago]], and Caroline Wilkinson, a writer.{{Cite web |url=https://www.michalikfuneralhome.com/obituary/1504186 |title=Ruth E. VanDemark (1944–2012) – Obituary |date=2012 |website=michalikfuneralhome.com |access-date=December 14, 2021}} He later married Marilyn Vogel.{{Cite web |url=https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20140210/wicker-park/victorian-mansion-on-wicker-parks-beer-barons-row-sells-for-23-million/ |title=Victorian Mansion on Wicker Park's Beer Baron's Row Sells for $2.3 Million |date=February 10, 2014 |last=Hauser |first=Alisa |website=[[DNAinfo]] |access-date=December 14, 2021 |archive-date=April 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410215659/https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20140210/wicker-park/victorian-mansion-on-wicker-parks-beer-barons-row-sells-for-23-million/ |url-status=dead }}

Wilkinson died on December 10, 2021, at [[Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital]], in [[Lake Forest, Illinois]].{{Cite web |url=https://flowingdata.com/2021/12/13/leland-wilkinson-creator-of-the-grammar-of-graphics-passed-away/ |title=Leland Wilkinson, creator of The Grammar of Graphics, passed away |date=December 13, 2021 |website=[[FlowingData]] |access-date=December 14, 2021}}

==Awards== Wilkinson became a Fellow of the [[American Statistical Association]] in 1998 and a Fellow of the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] in 2009. He was an elected member of the [[International Statistical Institute]] in 2006. Wilkinson received the [[National Institute of Statistical Sciences]] Distinguished Service Award in 2010.

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links==

• [http://www.cs.uic.edu/~wilkinson/ Leland Wilkinson's academic home page]

{{Visualization}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkinson, Leland}} [[Category:1944 births]] [[Category:2021 deaths]] [[Category:American statisticians]] [[Category:Data and information visualization experts]] [[Category:Harvard University alumni]] [[Category:Harvard Divinity School alumni]] [[Category:Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni]] [[Category:University of Illinois Chicago faculty]] [[Category:Northwestern University faculty]] [[Category:Elected Members of the International Statistical Institute]] [[Category:Fellows of the American Statistical Association]] [[Category:Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science]]