Michael Bostock is an American computer scientist and data visualization specialist. He is one of the co-creators of Observable and a key developer of D3.js,[1] a JavaScript library used to produce dynamic, interactive data visualizations for web browsers.[2] He also contributed to the preceding Protovis framework.
In 2009, Bostock, Heer, and Vadim Ogievetsky developed and released Protovis, a JavaScript library for creating data visualizations.[5] The use of this library among academics led to additional development, resulting in the release of D3.js in 2011.[6]
For several years, Bostock led data visualization projects at the New York Times, where he developed several notable interactive news articles.[7][8][9] For this work, he shared the 2013, 2014, and 2015 Gerald Loeb Awards for Images/Visuals.[10][11][12] He left his position at the Times in 2015 to focus on other projects.[13]
Bostock went on to co-found Observable, a web platform for making and sharing data visualizations.[14] The company launched in 2020 with a $10.5 million Series A funding round led by the venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and Acrew Capital.[15] Bostock has served as Chief Technology Officer since Observable's founding.
Bostock has received recognition for his work. In 2013, the influential statistician Edward Tufte predicted that he will become one of the most important people for the future of data visualization,[16] and in 2015, the New York Times' "Innovation Report" called him a "digital superstar".[17] Bostock was also interviewed by the Data Stories podcast and presented at Eyeo 2014.[18] He advised the data platform provider Trifacta, which was later acquired by the technology company Alteryx.
2013: Mike Bostock, Shan Carter, Amanda Cox, Matthew Ericson, Ford Fessenden, Robert Gebeloff, Tom Giratikanon, Alan McLean, Alicia Parlapiano, Sergio Pecanha, Archie Tse, Jeremy White
2014: Mike Bostock, Shan Carter, Amanda Cox, Matthew Ericson, Hannah Fairfield, Ford Fessenden, Tom Giratikanon, Josh Keller, Alicia Parlapiano, Kevin Quealy, Archie Tse, Tim Wallace, Derek Watkins, Josh Williams, Jeremy White, Karen Yourish
2015: Gregor Aisch, Wilson Andrews, Jeremy Ashkenas, Matthew Bloch, Mike Bostock, Shan Carter, Haeyoun Park, Alicia Parlapiano, Archie Tse
Gerald Loeb Award for Images/Graphics/Interactives (2016–2018)
Gerald Loeb Award for Visual Storytelling (2019–2023)
(2019)
Dean Halford, Tom Randall
(2020-2023)
2020: Tracey McManus, Eli Murray
2021: Aliza Aufrichtig, Larry Buchanan, Weiyi Cai, Benedict Carey, Niraj Chokshi, Michael Corkery, Guilbert Gates, James Glanz, Christina Goldbaum, Rich Harris, Josh Holder, Ella Koeze, Jonah Markowitz, Bill Marsh, Blacki Migliozzi, Yuliya Parshina-Kottas, Derek Watkins, Jeremy White
2022: Maria Abi-Habib, Audra D.S. Burch, Weiyi Cai, Alejandro Cegarra, Keith Collins, Nikolas Diamant, Peter Eavis, Or Fleisher, James Glanz, Troy Griggs, Mika Gröndahl, Evan Grothjan, Matthew Haag, Barbara Harvey, Lingdong Huang, Natalie Kitroeff, Oscar Lopez, Tariro Mzezewa, Yuliya Parshina-Kottas, Karthik Patanjali, Miles Peyton, Anjali Singhvi, Rumsey Taylor, Tim Wallace, Jeremy White, Josh Williams
2023: Marcelo Duhalde, Kaliz Lee, Han Huang, Adolfo Arranz, Fiona Sun, Dennis Wong