A birthday on the globe
10 March on the globe: what happened in the world on this day, and who was born
For 10 March, the English Wikipedia lists 55 events and 168 births. 26 of the events stand at their places as rays of light; six more are dashed circles, where the sentence links only to a country or a sea. The taller the ray, the longer ago it happened. The people born that day come further down, as blue points.
A birthday, yours or someone else’s:
Turn it into a greetingScroll: the globe turns to each place
The day you were born, on the globe.
Three things from your day
Scroll: your day first, then 10 March through the years
The Earth on 10 March
The picture on the globe was assembled by NASA from satellite photographs taken in March 2004: the snow, the ice and the green are those of the month.
On 10 March the Sun passes straight overhead at noon along the parallel of 3.9° south. In London, the day lasts about 11 hours 30 minutes.
Beyond 86° south the Sun no longer sets; beyond 86° north it no longer rises.
The line between day and night is tilted on the globe exactly as on this day of the year. On the dark side you can see the lights of towns.
Africa · Africa
298
Roman Emperor Maximian concludes his campaign in North Africa and makes a triumphal entry into Carthage.
On the map: Africa.
Asia · Perlis
1909
By signing the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909, Thailand relinquishes its sovereignty over the Malay states of Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and Terengganu, which become British protectorates.
On the map: Perlis.
Latin America · Santo Domingo
1496
After establishing the city of Santo Domingo, Christopher Columbus departs for Spain, leaving his brother in command.
On the map: Santo Domingo.
Latin America · Legislative Assembly of El Salvador
1991
1991 Salvadoran legislative election: The Nationalist Republican Alliance wins 39 of the 84 seats in the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador.
On the map: Legislative Assembly of El Salvador.
North America · Kaseya Center
2026
Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat recorded the second-highest scoring game in NBA history with 83 Points.
On the map: Kaseya Center.
10 March
What the other Wikipedias remember#
For these years the English list has nothing on this day. The events below come from the same day’s lists on Wikipedia in Spanish and Chinese and were translated for this page.
From Wikipedia in Spanish · Seville
1526
In Seville (Spain), Charles I marries his cousin, Infanta Isabella of Portugal.
On the map: Seville.
Translated from the list on Wikipedia in Spanish.
From Wikipedia in Chinese · Vienna
2004
Libya formally signs the Additional Protocol to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons with the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, allowing the agency's inspectors to carry out surprise inspections of all nuclear facilities on its territory.
On the map: Vienna.
Translated from the list on Wikipedia in Chinese.
10 March
Born on 10 March#
The English Wikipedia lists 168 births for this day. The blue points are the birthplaces of 60 of these people: those written about in the most Wikipedia editions, where Wikidata gives a place of birth.
Born on 10 March
1940
Chuck Norris, American actor, producer, and martial artist (died 2026)
Place of birth: Ryan.
Born on 10 March
1958
Sharon Stone, American actress and producer
Place of birth: Meadville.
Born on 10 March
1981
Samuel Eto'o, Cameroonian footballer
Place of birth: Douala.
Born on 10 March
1988
Ivan Rakitić, Croatian football player
Place of birth: Rheinfelden.
Born on 10 March
1984
Olivia Wilde, American actress and director
Place of birth: New York City.
Born in Britain and Ireland
1888
Barry Fitzgerald, Irish actor (died 1961)
Place of birth: Dublin.
Born in Britain and Ireland
1993
Jack Butland, English footballer
Place of birth: Bristol.
Born in Britain and Ireland
1787
William Etty, English painter and academic (died 1849)
Place of birth: York.
10 March
Number one in the charts that week
At the cinema
An animal recorded that day
The record can be seen in GBIF, which brings together wildlife records from around the world.
All your birthdays
The weather that day
Data: Met Office Hadley Centre (HadCET); NOAA (GHCN-Daily, Mauna Loa).
Above the Earth
Sources: Jonathan McDowell, GCAT (launches); GFZ Potsdam (Kp index). Days are counted in Universal Time.
Football that day
International matches played that day:
Source: the “International football results” dataset kept by Mart Jürisoo (CC0).
Also that day
The earthquake’s page at the USGS
Source: the USGS catalogue. The day is counted in Universal Time (UTC).
In those days
Make a link for someone
Type the name, pick the day and the year of birth. The link opens straight on their day, with their name in the greeting.
The link carries the name, date and place typed here; anyone who gets it can see them.
Put another birthday beside it
Your mother’s, your child’s, a friend’s: the two days appear side by side.
Below: 10 March through the years.
The whole globe of the day
Drag the globe to turn it. Touch a ray or a point to read what happened there.
Everything Wikipedia lists for 10 March
The list is the English Wikipedia’s, in its own wording, as it stood in October 2026. 23 events have no place on the map: the sentence links to no place with coordinates, only to places too wide to mark, or to several countries.
- 241 BC
First Punic War: Battle of the Aegates: The Romans sink the Carthaginian fleet bringing the First Punic War to an end.
Europe · Battle of the AegatesWikipedia: Battle of the Aegates - 298
Roman Emperor Maximian concludes his campaign in North Africa and makes a triumphal entry into Carthage.
Africa · AfricaWikipedia: Maximian - 947
The Later Han is founded by Liu Zhiyuan. He declares himself emperor.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Later Han - 1496
After establishing the city of Santo Domingo, Christopher Columbus departs for Spain, leaving his brother in command.
Latin America · Santo DomingoWikipedia: Santo Domingo - 1535
Spaniard Fray Tomás de Berlanga, the fourth Bishop of Panama, discovers the Galápagos Islands by chance on his way to Peru.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Tomás de Berlanga - 1607
Susenyos I defeats the combined armies of Yaqob and Abuna Petros II at the Battle of Gol in Gojjam, making him Emperor of Ethiopia.
Africa · GojjamWikipedia: Susenyos I - 1629
Charles I dissolves the Parliament of England, beginning the eleven-year period known as the Personal Rule.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Personal Rule - 1661
French "Sun King" Louis XIV begins his personal rule of France after the death of his premier, the Cardinal Mazarin.
Europe · FranceWikipedia: Louis XIV - 1695
Nine Years' War: At the Battle of Sant Esteve d'en Bas, Catalan miquelets attacked a column of French regular infantry and caused them to surrender.
Europe · La Vall d'en BasWikipedia: Nine Years' War - 1735
An agreement between Nader Shah and Russia is signed near Ganja, Azerbaijan and Russian troops are withdrawn from occupied territories.
Asia · Ganja, AzerbaijanWikipedia: Nader Shah - 1762
French Huguenot Jean Calas, who had been wrongly convicted of killing his son, dies after being tortured by authorities; the event inspired Voltaire to begin a campaign for religious tolerance and legal reform.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Huguenots - 1814
Emperor Napoleon I is defeated at the Battle of Laon in France.
Europe · Battle of LaonWikipedia: Battle of Laon - 1830
The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army is created.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Royal Netherlands East Indies Army - 1831
The French Foreign Legion is created by Louis Philippe, the King of France, from the foreign regiments of the Kingdom of France.
Europe · Kingdom of FranceWikipedia: French Foreign Legion - 1848
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is ratified by the United States Senate, ending the Mexican–American War.
Latin America · Villa de Guadalupe HidalgoWikipedia: Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo - 1861
El Hadj Umar Tall seizes the city of Ségou, destroying the Bamana Empire of Mali.
Africa · SégouWikipedia: Omar Saidou Tall - 1873
The first Azerbaijani play, The Adventures of the Vizier of the Khan of Lenkaran, prepared by Akhundov, is performed by Hassan-bey Zardabi and dramatist and Najaf-bey Vezirov.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Mirza Fatali Akhundov - 1876
The first successful test of a telephone is made by Alexander Graham Bell.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Invention of the telephone - 1891
Almon Strowger patents the Strowger switch, a device which led to the automation of telephone circuit switching.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Almon Brown Strowger - 1906
The Courrières mine disaster, Europe's worst ever, kills 1099 miners in northern France.
Europe · Courrières mine disasterWikipedia: Courrières mine disaster - 1909
By signing the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909, Thailand relinquishes its sovereignty over the Malay states of Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and Terengganu, which become British protectorates.
Asia · PerlisWikipedia: Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 - 1915
The Battle of Neuve Chapelle, the first deliberately planned British offensive of the First World War, began.
Europe · Battle of Neuve-ChapelleWikipedia: Battle of Neuve-Chapelle - 1916
The final letter in the McMahon–Hussein Correspondence was written, agreeing that Britain would recognise Arab independence in return for the Sharif of Mecca launching a revolt against the Ottoman Empire.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Arab Revolt - 1917
Russia and France reached an agreement' to support one another's territorial ambitions for Europe in the aftermath of World War I.
no place on the mapWikipedia: World War I - 1922
Mahatma Gandhi is arrested in India, tried for sedition, and sentenced to six years in prison, only to be released after nearly two years for an appendicitis operation.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Mahatma Gandhi - 1933
The Long Beach earthquake affects the Greater Los Angeles Area, leaving around 108 people dead.
North America · 1933 Long Beach earthquakeWikipedia: 1933 Long Beach earthquake - 1944
Greek Civil War: The Political Committee of National Liberation is established in Greece by the National Liberation Front.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Greek Civil War - 1945
World War II: The U.S. Army Air Force firebombs Tokyo, and the resulting conflagration kills more than 100,000 people, mostly civilians.
Asia · Bombing of TokyoWikipedia: Bombing of Tokyo - 1949
Mildred Gillars ("Axis Sally") is convicted of treason.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Mildred Gillars - 1952
Fulgencio Batista leads a successful coup in Cuba.
Latin America · CubaWikipedia: 1952 Cuban coup d'état - 1959
Tibetan uprising: Fearing an abduction attempt by China, thousands of Tibetans surround the Dalai Lama's palace to prevent his removal.
Asia · Lhasa DistrictWikipedia: 1959 Tibetan uprising - 1965
Thomas Playford, Premier of South Australia, left office after 27 years, the longest term of any democratically elected leader in the history of Australia.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Thomas Playford IV - 1966
Military Prime Minister of South Vietnam Nguyễn Cao Kỳ sacks rival General Nguyễn Chánh Thi, precipitating large-scale civil and military dissension in parts of the nation.
Asia · Da NangWikipedia: Buddhist Uprising - 1967
British progressive-rock band Pink Floyd released their first single, "Arnold Layne".
no place on the mapWikipedia: Progressive rock - 1968
Vietnam War/Laotian Civil War: North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao forces overwhelmed the American, Laotian, Thai, and Hmong defenders of Lima Site 85.
Asia · Battle of Lima Site 85Wikipedia: Vietnam War - 1969
In Memphis, Tennessee, James Earl Ray pleads guilty to assassinating Martin Luther King Jr. He later unsuccessfully attempts to recant.
North America · Memphis, TennesseeWikipedia: Memphis, Tennessee - 1970
Vietnam War: Captain Ernest Medina is charged by the U.S. military with My Lai war crimes.
Asia · My Lai massacreWikipedia: Vietnam War - 1971
John Gorton resigns as Prime Minister of Australia and the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia after a secret ballot vote of confidence, being replaced in both positions by William McMahon.
no place on the mapWikipedia: 1971 Liberal Party of Australia leadership spill - 1974
1974 Belgian general election: Elections are held in Belgium for all 212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives, the Belgian Socialist Party taking the majority with 59.
Europe · BelgiumWikipedia: 1974 Belgian general election - 1975
Vietnam War: Ho Chi Minh Campaign: North Vietnamese troops attack Ban Mê Thuột in the South on their way to capturing Saigon in the final push for victory over South Vietnam.
Asia · Battle of Ban Me ThuotWikipedia: 1975 spring offensive - 1977
Astronomers discover the rings of Uranus.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Rings of Uranus - 1979
1979 International Women's Day protests in Tehran: Protestor involvement peaks with 15,000 Iranian women and girls performing a three‐hour-long sit‐in at the Courthouse of Tehran.
Asia · Courthouse of TehranWikipedia: 1979 International Women's Day protests in Tehran - 1982
Syzygy: All nine planets recognized at this time — Mercury to Pluto — align on the same side of the Sun.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Syzygy - 1989
Air Ontario Flight 1363, a Fokker F-28 Fellowship, crashes at Dryden Regional Airport in Dryden, Ontario, Canada, killing 24.
North America · Air Ontario Flight 1363Wikipedia: Air Ontario Flight 1363 - 1990
In Haiti, Prosper Avril is ousted eighteen months after seizing power in a coup d'état in September 1988.
Latin America · HaitiWikipedia: September 1988 Haitian coup d'état - 1991
1991 Salvadoran legislative election: The Nationalist Republican Alliance wins 39 of the 84 seats in the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador.
Latin America · Legislative Assembly of El SalvadorWikipedia: 1991 Salvadoran legislative election - 2000
The Dot-com bubble peaks with the NASDAQ Composite stock market index reaching 5,048.62.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Dot-com bubble - 2006
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter arrives at Mars.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter - 2008
The New York Times revealed that Eliot Spitzer, Governor of New York, had patronized a prostitution ring.
no place on the mapWikipedia: The New York Times - 2017
The impeachment of President Park Geun-hye of South Korea in response to a major political scandal is unanimously upheld by the country's Constitutional Court, ending her presidency.
Asia · Constitutional Court of KoreaWikipedia: 2016 South Korean political scandal - 2019
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a Boeing 737 MAX, crashes shortly after takeoff, killing all 157 passengers and crew. This and the prior Lion Air Flight 610 led to all 387 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft being grounded worldwide.
Africa · Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302Wikipedia: Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 - 2022
2022 Hungarian presidential election: The National Assembly of Hungary elects former minister for Family Affairs, Katalin Novák, as president of Hungary in a 137–51 vote, becoming the first female president in the country's history.
no place on the mapWikipedia: 2022 Hungarian presidential election - 2023
Silicon Valley Bank collapses due to a run on its deposits, in the second largest bank failure in US history. Its operations are taken over by the FDIC.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank - 2024
2024 Portuguese legislative election: Elections are held in Portugal for all 230 seats in the Assembly of the Republic. The Partido Socialista loses its absolute majority to the Partido Social Democrata, winning 77 and 79 seats respectively.
Europe · PortugalWikipedia: 2024 Portuguese legislative election - 2026
Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat recorded the second-highest scoring game in NBA history with 83 Points.
North America · Kaseya CenterWikipedia: Bam Adebayo's 83-point game
What the other Wikipedias remember
For these years the English list has nothing on this day. The events below come from the same day’s lists on Wikipedia in Spanish and Chinese and were translated for this page.
- 1526
In Seville (Spain), Charles I marries his cousin, Infanta Isabella of Portugal.
- 2004
Libya formally signs the Additional Protocol to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons with the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, allowing the agency's inspectors to carry out surprise inspections of all nuclear facilities on its territory.
Who was born on 10 March
In order of how many Wikipedia editions have an article about each. The first 60 of 168 are shown.
- 1957
Osama bin Laden, Saudi Arabian terrorist, founded al-Qaeda (died 2011)
- 1940
Chuck Norris, American actor, producer, and martial artist (died 2026)
- 1845
Alexander III of Russia (died 1894)
Anichkov PalaceWikipedia: Alexander III of Russia - 1958
Sharon Stone, American actress and producer
MeadvilleWikipedia: Sharon Stone - 1936
Sepp Blatter, Swiss businessman and eighth president of FIFA
- 1981
Samuel Eto'o, Cameroonian footballer
DoualaWikipedia: Samuel Eto'o - 1452
Ferdinand II, King of Castile and León (died 1516)
Palacio de los SadaWikipedia: Ferdinand II of Aragon - 1988
Ivan Rakitić, Croatian football player
RheinfeldenWikipedia: Ivan Rakitić - 1503
Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1564)
Alcalá de HenaresWikipedia: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor - 1984
Olivia Wilde, American actress and director
New York CityWikipedia: Olivia Wilde - 1772
Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel, German poet and critic (died 1829)
- 1947
Kim Campbell, Canadian lawyer and politician, 19th Prime Minister of Canada
Port AlberniWikipedia: Kim Campbell - 1923
Val Logsdon Fitch, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2015)
MerrimanWikipedia: Val Logsdon Fitch - 1994
Bad Bunny, Puerto Rican rapper, songwriter, producer, actor, and wrestler
BayamónWikipedia: Bad Bunny - 1952
Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwean politician, Prime Minister of Zimbabwe (died 2018)
- 1964
Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh
Buckingham PalaceWikipedia: Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh - 1983
Carrie Underwood, American singer-songwriter
MuskogeeWikipedia: Carrie Underwood - 1628
Marcello Malpighi, Italian physician and biologist (died 1694)
CrevalcoreWikipedia: Marcello Malpighi - 1788
Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff, German author, poet, playwright, and critic (died 1857)
Castle LubowitzWikipedia: Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff - 1892
Arthur Honegger, French composer and educator (died 1955)
Le HavreWikipedia: Arthur Honegger - 1972
Timbaland, American rapper and producer
NorfolkWikipedia: Timbaland - 1749
Lorenzo Da Ponte, Italian-American priest and poet (died 1838)
- 1941
George P. Smith, American biologist, Nobel laureate in Chemistry
NorwalkWikipedia: George Smith - 1971
Jon Hamm, American actor and director
St. LouisWikipedia: Jon Hamm - 1844
Pablo de Sarasate, Spanish violinist and composer (died 1908)
PamplonaWikipedia: Pablo de Sarasate - 1961
Laurel Clark, American captain, physician, and astronaut (died 2003)
- 1963
Rick Rubin, American record producer
Lido BeachWikipedia: Rick Rubin - 1997
Belinda Bencic, Swiss tennis player
- 1604
Johann Rudolf Glauber, German-Dutch alchemist and chemist (died 1670)
Karlstadt am MainWikipedia: Johann Rudolf Glauber - 1888
Barry Fitzgerald, Irish actor (died 1961)
- 1993
Jack Butland, English footballer
BristolWikipedia: Jack Butland - 1928
Sara Montiel, Spanish actress (died 2013)
Campo de CriptanaWikipedia: Sara Montiel - 1873
Jakob Wassermann, German-Austrian soldier and author (died 1934)
- 1977
Robin Thicke, American singer, songwriter, and record producer
Los AngelesWikipedia: Robin Thicke - 1787
William Etty, English painter and academic (died 1849)
- 1709
Georg Wilhelm Steller, German botanist, zoologist, physician, and explorer (died 1746)
Bad WindsheimWikipedia: Georg Wilhelm Steller - 1787
Francisco de Paula Martínez de la Rosa y Berdejo, Spanish playwright and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (died 1862)
- 1903
Bix Beiderbecke, American cornet player, pianist, and composer (died 1931)
DavenportWikipedia: Bix Beiderbecke - 1928
James Earl Ray, American criminal; assassin of Martin Luther King Jr. (died 1998)
- 1748
John Playfair, Scottish minister and scientist (died 1819)
DundeeWikipedia: John Playfair - 1953
Paul Haggis, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter
LondonWikipedia: Paul Haggis - 1964
Neneh Cherry, Swedish singer-songwriter
StockholmWikipedia: Neneh Cherry - 1867
Hector Guimard, French-American architect (died 1942)
3rd arrondissement of LyonWikipedia: Hector Guimard - 1962
Jasmine Guy, American actress, singer, and director
- 1995
Zach LaVine, American basketball player
RentonWikipedia: Zach LaVine - 1877
Pascual Ortiz Rubio, Mexican diplomat and president (1930–1932) (died 1963)
- 1900
Violet Brown, Jamaican supercentenarian, oldest Jamaican ever (died 2017)
Trelawny ParishWikipedia: Violet Brown - 1891
Sam Jaffe, American actor, teacher, musician and engineer (died 1984)
New York CityWikipedia: Sam Jaffe - 1844
Marie Euphrosyne Spartali, British Pre-Raphaelite painter (died 1927)
- 1918
Günther Rall, German general and pilot (died 2009)
GaggenauWikipedia: Günther Rall - 1937
María Kodama, Argentine writer and translator (died 2023)
Buenos AiresWikipedia: María Kodama - 1939
Irina Press, Ukrainian-Russian hurdler and pentathlete (died 2004)
KharkivWikipedia: Irina Press - 1963
Jeff Ament, American bass player and songwriter
- 1973
Chris Sutton, English footballer
NottinghamWikipedia: Chris Sutton - 1982
Kwame Brown, American basketball player
ChicagoWikipedia: Kwame Brown - 1987
Māris Štrombergs, Latvian BMX racer
ValmieraWikipedia: Māris Štrombergs - 1990
Stefanie Vögele, Swiss tennis player
LeuggernWikipedia: Stefanie Vögele - 1903
Clare Boothe Luce, American playwright, journalist, and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Italy (died 1987)
New York CityWikipedia: Clare Boothe Luce - 1951
Gloria Diaz, Filipino actress and beauty queen, Miss Universe 1969
Ilocos RegionWikipedia: Gloria Diaz - 1870
David Riazanov, Russian theorist and politician (died 1938)
What is celebrated on 10 March
- Christian feast day Attala
- Christian feast day Harriet Tubman (Lutheran)
- Christian feast day John Ogilvie
- Christian feast day Macarius of Jerusalem
- Christian feast day Marie-Eugénie de Jésus
- Christian feast day Pope Simplicius
- Christian feast day Sojourner Truth (Lutheran)
- Christian feast day March 10 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Harriet Tubman Day (United States of America)
- Mario Day (International)
- Holocaust Remembrance Day (Bulgaria)
- National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (United States)
- Székely Freedom Day (Romania)
- Tibetan Uprising Day (Tibetan independence movement)
A greeting link for someone
Type a name and, if you like, the year of birth. The link opens with a greeting, and beside each event it says how old the person turned that day, or how many years before their birth it happened.
The name and the year go only into the link you send.
All 366 days
How the globe is made
Where the events come from
Each edition of this page uses the day’s list from Wikipedia in its own language: Romanian, English, Spanish, Chinese. The lists are written by volunteers and differ from one edition to the next; the text of each event is Wikipedia’s, with a link to the article. A row that appears twice in a list is shown once. The lists have not been checked event by event: they are Wikipedia’s, mistakes included.
For events before 1582, and for countries that moved to the Gregorian calendar later (Britain in 1752, Russia in 1918), the same day may be counted Old Style in one list and New Style in another.
The chapter “What the other Wikipedias remember” adds up to five events a day from the lists of the other three editions, only for years in which the English list has nothing on that day. They were translated for this page, passed the same filters as the tour, and are not counted among the events of the English list.
How an event gets onto the map
The place comes from Wikidata. If the sentence links to the article about the event itself (a battle, an opening, an earthquake), dated to the same year, the ray stands on its coordinates or on those of its location. Otherwise it stands on the first place the sentence links to: a town, a building, a mountain, an island. This second step can be wrong: sometimes the sentence only mentions the place. That is why the page says, under each event, which place the ray stands on.
When the sentence links to a single state or province, or to a single sea, lake or desert larger than 5,000 km², the globe shows a dashed circle, not a ray. The circle has the area Wikidata gives, with its radius kept between 1.2° and 16°, or a radius of 4.5° when Wikidata gives no area; it says only that the sentence links to that place. Organisations, ships, spacecraft, museum objects, rivers, mountain ranges, languages and continents are never used as places. When a sentence names several states and no exact place, the event stays in the list only.
What the height means
The height of a ray shows how many years have passed, on a logarithmic scale: 10 years, 100 years and 1,000 years are equal steps apart; anything older than about 2,600 years has the tallest ray. The colour runs from pale yellow for recent years to violet for antiquity.
Where the tour stops
In each region the tour stops at up to three events (five in Britain and Ireland), chosen mainly by three things: whether Wikipedia’s editors put the event in the “On this day” box of their main page (the English, Spanish and Chinese editions), how many Wikipedia editions have an article about it, and how many of the four lists include it. Events whose sentence or article is about a war, an attack, a crime or a disaster are left out of the tour; they stay in the whole list, in Wikipedia’s wording. The filter is a list of words and a list of Wikidata types, so it can miss some.
The tour of births names the people with articles in the most editions and leaves aside those whom the list or Wikidata describes as rulers, politicians, commanders, leaders of movements or criminals; they stay in the list.
The Earth and the Sun
The daytime images are NASA’s Blue Marble Next Generation mosaics, one for each month of 2004; the night side is Black Marble 2016. The tilt of the line between day and night is computed for the day; the hour is chosen so that the place being read is in daylight. The latitude where the Sun stands overhead is the average of the four years of the leap cycle; in a given year it can differ by up to 0.4°.
The day you were born
The number ones come from the weekly lists on Wikipedia: Billboard for the United States (from 1940; the Hot 100 from August 1958), the UK Singles Chart (from November 1952), Los 40 Principales for Spain (from July 1966) and, for Romania, the Romanian Top 100 and Airplay 100 (2001–2021, with missing weeks). The page shows the chart of the week in which the day of birth falls, with its date; Billboard and the UK chart are dated at the end of their week. For Romania before 2001 and for China these sources have no weekly chart.
The films are those that reached cinemas in the United States up to ten days before or three days after that day (some of them in a few cinemas at first), from the English Wikipedia’s yearly lists (from 1968), in order of how many editions have an article about them. The events “in those days” are the ones on the neighbouring days’ lists that carry the year of birth, passed through the same filter as the tour.
The day of birth, year included
The Moon, the star sign and the constellation are worked out by the page itself, for noon Universal Time on the day. The lit part of the Moon is rounded and can differ by a few per cent from that at the hour of birth. The sign follows the usual zodiac of twelve equal parts starting at the March equinox; the constellation is the one the Sun actually stood in front of, by the borders set by the International Astronomical Union, and within a day of a border the page does not name it. When the Sun changes sign while it is that day anywhere on Earth, the page gives the moment of crossing, rounded to ten minutes and accurate to within about a quarter of an hour, and the clock time in a few cities, with the time zone and summer time of that year.
The year in the Chinese calendar is the one your device’s own calendar gives for the date, checked against the Hong Kong Observatory’s tables. “All your birthdays” uses the same sources as the rest of the chapter for the same day in every year since the birth: the temperature, well-known launches that took place on that very day, matches of the teams the edition follows, snow deeper than 10 cm and strong geomagnetic storms. The three things at the top and the four on the picture are chosen in a fixed order (the song, the animal, a full Moon, a well-known launch before an ordinary earthquake); on the picture you can change them.
When the link carries a year of birth, the page adds a few things about that exact day. The weather is the Met Office’s Central England temperature record and the readings from New York’s Central Park; the “usual high” is the average of the daily highs of 1961–1990 for that date, with two days either side. The carbon dioxide figure is the monthly mean at the Mauna Loa observatory, where measurements begin in March 1958.
The earthquake is the one with the largest magnitude in the USGS catalogue for that day, counted in Universal Time. Before the 1960s the catalogue has gaps even above magnitude 5.5, so in the older years many days have no earthquake. The page gives only the magnitude and the place: the country the epicentre falls in or, when the epicentre is at sea within 300 km of a coast, the nearest country; farther out, only the ocean.
The launches are those that reached orbit or left for the Moon and the planets, from Jonathan McDowell’s GCAT catalogue. If nothing left that day, the page shows the nearest launch within three days before or after, and says how many days away it was. The geomagnetic storm appears only when the Kp index reached at least 5 in one of the day’s eight three-hour intervals.
The animal comes from GBIF: an observation made by a person (the animal seen or heard, or its tracks), dated to that exact day, with coordinates and a CC0 or CC BY licence. Only a few hundred well-known species are searched (mammals, birds, turtles, butterflies); of those noted that day, mammals and species with articles in many Wikipedia editions come first; birds noted almost every day, and species used recently, wait their turn. Observations dated 1 January are left out, because records without a day are often filed there. An observation shows that the animal was recorded there, not how many animals there were.
The matches are those between national teams. Only matches of England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, Canada and Australia are shown, along with those at the big final tournaments. The picture to send is drawn in the page from the day’s globe and the facts above, and stays on your device until you send it.
Sources
- Events, births and holidays: the day’s page on Wikipedia, text under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Coordinates, places of birth and the number of editions: Wikidata (CC0).
- The Earth by day: NASA Blue Marble Next Generation. The Earth by night: NASA Black Marble 2016.
- Borders and regions: Natural Earth.
- World population and births per year: UN World Population Prospects 2024.
- Charts and films: Wikipedia’s lists for Billboard, the UK Singles Chart, Los 40 Principales, Romanian Top 100, Airplay 100 and American films by year (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Weather: Met Office Hadley Centre, HadCET (Open Government Licence) and NOAA GHCN-Daily, New York Central Park. Carbon dioxide: NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory, Mauna Loa.
- Earthquakes: the USGS catalogue. Launches: Jonathan McDowell, GCAT (CC BY). Kp index: GFZ Potsdam (CC BY 4.0). Matches: International football results, Mart Jürisoo (CC0).
- Animal observations: GBIF, with a link to each record; species names come from Wikidata.