Matplotlib and Scientific Visualization*

Data visualization is critical to understanding data in physics. Visualization is important in the early stages of understanding a measurement or a model and, later, in communicating it clearly. Physicists need to produce visualizations that fit their specific problem, often including multiple axes or novel plot types. They need tools that make common tasks like scatter and line plots easy and complex tasks like compound figures possible.

Matplotlib is the foundational data visualization library for the Scientific Python Ecosystem. It is used by working physicists, from high-profile projects like LIGO and the Event Horizon Telescope. to the day-to-day work of students, for interactive exploratory visualization and publication-ready figures.

This talk will highlight some of the key features of the library, focusing on examples of interactive multi-scale visualizations and tuning figures in preparation for publication. I will also briefly discuss our future plans to evolve the library to meet the future needs of our users.