In memory Hans Rosling
He could explain the world Hans Rosling worked tirelessly to explain the world to in simple terms. Although he has left us now, his message and positive energy live on. HANS ROSLING was a notable Professor of International Health at Karolinska Institutet for many years. However, it was his work as a lecturer and educator that made him world-famous. His mission was to improve
Typical Hans Rosling
CREDIBLE
FACTUAL He was intolerant of platitudes, and would often say “That’s where you’re wrong! Think about it!”
COMMITED
RATIONAL
Statistics were a serious matter to him, and he was passionate about communicating them.
“Feelings are for the bedroom”, he would say.
demonstrate that the world is in constant change. He gained enormous media exposure following a TED talk in 2007 which marked the beginning of his world tour as an “edutainer” and fact-teller. Since then, he has been a speaker in great demand. “I don’t know how he found the time to do everything he did. When it was suggested he should rest, he’d always say ‘I can rest when I’m dead’. I find it unlikely that he would be resting now, it just doesn’t suit him,” says Helena Nordenstedt, researcher at the same department. Hans Rosling died of pancreatic cancer on 7 February 2017.
health and living conditions, especially for the world’s poorest. “He was a master of simplifying complex matters, and often did so on a basis of right and wrong, but he could also reconsider his opinions. He was unpretentious like that,” says Anna Mia Ekström, Professor at the Department of Public Health Sciences. When Hans Rosling, along with his son and daughter-in-law, developed a computer program with a new type of visual statistics in the 2000s, he finally had the means to effectively dispel long-held truths. With this new tool in hand and statistics from every country, Hans Rosling was able to clearly
FUNNY He often made us laugh, think and be dismayed, all at the same time – like when he pointed out that professors are more wrong than right about the world, thereby proving them less knowledgeable than a chimpanzee.
HOPEINSPIRING
He told it like it was, no matter if it was politically correct or not.
WORLDFAMOUS He gave more TED talks than anyone else in the world.
A GOOD TEACHER
Lego, IKEA boxes or apples. He could use whatever was at hand to explain the world.
He showed us that the world is becoming a better place. He called himself a “possibilist”, a person who believes that things are possible.
DYSLEXIC “Is it spelled profesor or professor?”
1940
27 July 1948 Born.
46
Medical Science–2017
1950
1972 Married paediatrician and researcher Agneta Thordeman.
1960
1970
1967 Began studying at Uppsala University. First statistics, then medicine.
1981 Discovered a previously unknown paralytic disease: Konzo.
1980
1999 Appointed Professor at Karolinska Institutet
1990
1993 Co-founded the Swedish section of Doctors Without Borders.
2012 Named Swede of the Year Abroad
2000
2005 Co-founded the Gapminder foundation.
2010
2017 Hans Rosling passed away on 7 February.