The most famous people from Colchester have been revealed, according to a new interactive map.
Mapbox researcher and geographer, Topi Tjukanov, developed the insightful map which reveals the birthplaces of the most 'notable people' around the world.
The data is based on a study published in June this year by researchers from the University of Paris.
A person's significance was calculated based on information scraped from Wikipedia and Wikidata.
Did you know Freddie Mercury was born in Zanzibar and Barack Obama in Honolulu? Who is the most famous person from your home town?
— Topi Tjukanov (@tjukanov) July 28, 2022
I made a map of the most notable people around the world. Built with @Mapbox.
Check it out here: https://t.co/NR0J7nqTn1
🧵 pic.twitter.com/GoI4VnGzvd
The data accounts for a series of factors including the number of Wikipedia entries, their average length, the average number of views from 2015-18 as well as the total number of external links.
"The data contains a rank value and a notability "sum value" these are used to determine which names are shown and how big they are," Mr Tjukanov explained to users on Twitter.
You can explore the map and view the noteworthy people from all over the world in four different categories:
- Culture
- Discovery & Science
- Leadership
- Sports & Games
Who are the most notable people from Colchester?
The interactive map claims that the most notable person from Colchester is the mathematician Sir Roger Penrose.
He has contributed to the mathematical physics of general relativity and cosmology.
Sir Roger has also received several prizes and awards, including the 1988 Wolf Prize in Physics, which he shared with Stephen Hawking for the Penrose–Hawking singularity theorems.
He is regarded as one of the greatest living physicists, mathematicians and scientists, and is particularly noted for the breadth and depth of his work in both natural and formal sciences.
Alongside Sir Roger the naturalised American commercial photographer Arthur Samuel Mole was also deemed to be one of the more notable people born in Colchester by the map.
He became famous for a series of "living photographs" made during World War I, in which tens of thousands of soldiers, reservists and other members of the military were arranged to form massive compositions.
See if you recognise any notable names by heading to the map now.
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