Toussaint Loua

Toussaint Loua was a French statistician and was credited for inventing the heat map in information visualization.

Career

Loua was born in Saarn in modern day Germany.
He began his career as a clerk at the Ministry of Commerce in 1850 at the age of 26. From 1875 to 1887, Loua directed the General Directorate of Statistics of France. Under his direction, the SGF published in 1878 the first Statistical Yearbook of France and it was also under its mandate that in 1885 the High Council of Statistics was created.