{"id":6158,"date":"2017-02-15T14:24:32","date_gmt":"2017-02-15T14:24:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=6158"},"modified":"2017-02-16T15:27:45","modified_gmt":"2017-02-16T15:27:45","slug":"in-memory-of-hans-rosling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2017\/02\/in-memory-of-hans-rosling\/","title":{"rendered":"In memory of Hans Rosling"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hans<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAcademics never stand on ladders, only working class people.\u201d Hans Rosling, ALT Conference, 9 September 2008, in Leeds.<\/em><\/p>\n

Many people will have been sad and shocked that Hans Rosling \u201ca kind and constantly curious genius\u201d died on 7 February, aged 68, from pancreatic cancer, in Uppsala, Sweden.<\/p>\n

Rosling was professor of international health at Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute. In 2008 he gave a brilliant and memorable keynote – A fact based world view<\/a> – at the ALT conference – \u201cRethinking the digital divide\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

We were lucky to be able to book Rosling soon after he and his son and daughter in law had set up the Gapminder Foundation<\/a>, but before Rosling had become such a publically influential and visible figure.<\/p>\n

Rosling was a joy to deal with as a speaker. Quick to reply to emails, flexible about dates, utterly undemanding. Insistent that the small honorarium that ALT paid to keynote speakers at that time went to the Gapminder Foundation.<\/p>\n

On the day of the keynote I had arranged to meet Rosling in the foyer of the big lecture theatre, around an hour before he was due to speak. He strode in. \u201cDid you find us OK?\u201d \u201cOf course. Some years ago I was a Swedish orienteering champion, so it was not problem.\u201d We moved into the theatre. Hans surveyed the set-up, noticing that the base of the screen in there is perhaps 4m above ground level.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need you to get me the longest pointing stick that this place can provide. And a stepladder.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the great things about organising a conference at Leeds University is the responsiveness of the support staff. Within minutes a big aluminium stepladder and a very long pointer had been found.<\/p>\n

I steadied the ladder whilst Rosling did a couple of practice runs up it, holding the pole. Satisfied, we folded and hid the ladder behind the cloth-draped speaker\u2019s tables, and then turned our attention to getting Rosling\u2019s presentation set up, and his radio microphone fitted.<\/p>\n

A little later a Leeds University manager appeared. \u201cCan I have a word with you? I\u2019m afraid that the university is not happy for your speaker to use the stepladder. We think it is unsafe.\u201d What to do?<\/p>\n

I had some ALT headed notepaper in my bag. I discussed the situation with Rosling and we decided to produce a disclaimer. Here it is.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We gave the disclaimer to the man from the university. He departed, somewhat happier. People started arriving for the session. Rosling\u2019s keynote was terrific: uplifting, ground-breaking, athletic, funny, political, and with learning technology references woven in.<\/p>\n

Since 2008 I\u2019ve looked out for Rosling\u2019s work. For me, his most powerful and affecting piece, though there are many others<\/a>, is this small video from 2015 – Why boat refugees don\u2019t fly<\/a>. Please also find time to read this excellent obituary by Ann Lindstrand<\/a>, who is head of the vaccine and register unit, at the Swedish Public Health Agency, and this blog post by Oxford economist Max Roser<\/a> in the British Medical Journal.<\/p>\n

If you want to donate to UNICEF in honour of Hans Rosling, here is the page for this purpose<\/a> created by Agneta Rosling.<\/p>\n

First published in ALT news<\/a>, by Seb Schmoller,\u00a0@sebschmoller<\/a> <\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cAcademics never stand on ladders, only working class people.\u201d Hans Rosling, ALT Conference, 9 September 2008, in Leeds. Many people will have been sad and shocked that Hans Rosling \u201ca kind and constantly curious genius\u201d died on 7 February, aged 68, from pancreatic cancer, in Uppsala, Sweden. Rosling was professor of international health at Stockholm’s […]","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alt-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9303,"url":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2021\/06\/shared-experiences-forget-the-technology-its-all-about-the-community\/","url_meta":{"origin":6158,"position":0},"title":"Guest Post – Shared experiences, forget the technology it\u2019s all about the community","author":"","date":"28 June 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"ALT past and present a rogue\u2019s gallery The VLE is Dead \u2013 ALT Symposium 2009Donald Clark \u2013 Don\u2019t lecture me \u2013 ALT Keynote 2010Hans Rosling - A fact based world view \u2013 ALT Keynote 2008Gasta with Tom Ferne \u2013 ALT 2017Waving fun \u2013 ALT 2019Who doesn\u2019t like lego Elaine Swift\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "altc21"","block_context":{"text":"altc21","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/category\/events\/altc21\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"altc21 artwork","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2021\/06\/Screenshot-2021-06-28-11.42.16.png?fit=658%2C364&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2021\/06\/Screenshot-2021-06-28-11.42.16.png?fit=658%2C364&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2021\/06\/Screenshot-2021-06-28-11.42.16.png?fit=658%2C364&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6149,"url":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2017\/02\/a-day-in-the-life-of-an-alt-trustee\/","url_meta":{"origin":6158,"position":1},"title":"A day in the life of an ALT Trustee","author":"rchallen","date":"23 February 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This post has taken a long time to write, not because it\u2019s any kind of magnum opus, but because the days in my life in 2017 have been both busy and slightly repetitive, I\u2019ve not been able to really reflect on them and readers may have found them a little\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A day in the life of"","block_context":{"text":"A day in the life of","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/category\/a-day-in-the-life-of\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2017\/02\/Bella_Abrams_small-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6339,"url":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2017\/04\/chief-executives-report-april-2017\/","url_meta":{"origin":6158,"position":2},"title":"Chief executive’s report, April 2017","author":"","date":"10 April 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Dear Members of ALT My report would usually have reached you in February, but to celebrate the launch of the new strategy, it was time for the Trustees of ALT to write to you instead. If you haven\u2019t already, do read their announcement of the strategy. You can also\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Chief Executive's Reports"","block_context":{"text":"Chief Executive's Reports","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/category\/reports\/chief-executives-reports\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Maren Deepwell at ALT conference 2016","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2016\/10\/CB_070916_ALT_176reduced.jpg?fit=1000%2C667&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2016\/10\/CB_070916_ALT_176reduced.jpg?fit=1000%2C667&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2016\/10\/CB_070916_ALT_176reduced.jpg?fit=1000%2C667&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2016\/10\/CB_070916_ALT_176reduced.jpg?fit=1000%2C667&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4102,"url":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2014\/07\/altc-the-alt-conference-hashtag-for-the-community\/","url_meta":{"origin":6158,"position":3},"title":"#altc the ALT Conference hashtag for the community","author":"ALT","date":"23 July 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Like many other educational conferences, there is a very active backchannel. 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There will be silliness\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Announcements"","block_context":{"text":"Announcements","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/category\/announcements\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":297,"url":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2014\/10\/round-up-of-presentations-at-alt-c-2014-from-the-east-midlands\/","url_meta":{"origin":6158,"position":5},"title":"Round-Up of Presentations at ALT-C 2014 from the East Midlands","author":"ALT","date":"9 October 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Learning to surf the (new) quality wave - Rob Howe, University of Northampton Link to conference paper on ALT website Slides available on Prezi \u00a0 Open Northampton - Open Educational Practice from Northampton - Dr Ming Nie and Prof\u00a0Ale Armellini, University of Northampton Link to conference paper on ALT website\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ALT East Midlands MG"","block_context":{"text":"ALT East Midlands MG","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/category\/altemidlands\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6CxU9-1Bk","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6158"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6166,"href":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6158\/revisions\/6166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}