All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.
This article was taken from the January 2014 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
The infographic reigns supreme today, but in 1920s and 30s Germany, Fritz Kahn struggled for his work to be accepted. "Popular science illustration was basically simplified textbook illustration: the images served the text and weren't very interesting," says Uta von Debschitz, who, with her brother Thilo, has compiled a new book about Kahn. "The complexity of what he tried to convey demanded new means such as images and metaphors." His innovations were not appreciated in his homeland, though -- he fled the Nazis, who banned and burned his books.
Von Debschitz says that his legacy is more relevant now than ever. "We're in a similar situation to Kahn and his contemporaries: new technologies and media give access to increasing sources of knowledge, while the information itself becomes increasingly complex."
The nervous heart, 1939
The images show a man engaged in six types of activity. Above are the corresponding pulse rates of healthy, nervous and sick hearts.
The monthly clock of the woman, 1931
Kahn's infographicshows how, in the quarterly division of the month, the uterus goes through a cycle similarto that of the Moon.
Anatomy of potency, 1930
These images were used in a promotional brochure for Testifortan, a hormone pharmaceutical. The product was later sold as Titus Pearls.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
