A birthday on the globe
10 September on the globe: what happened in the world on this day, and who was born
For 10 September, the English Wikipedia lists 57 events and 254 births. 28 of the events stand at their places as rays of light; three 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 September through the years
The Earth on 10 September
The picture on the globe was assembled by NASA from satellite photographs taken in September 2004: the snow, the ice and the green are those of the month.
On 10 September the Sun passes straight overhead at noon along the parallel of 4.9° north. In London, the day lasts about 13 hours.
Beyond 85° north the Sun no longer sets; beyond 85° south 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.
Britain & Ireland · Wembley Stadium
1936
The first world individual Speedway World Championship was held at London's Wembley Stadium.
On the map: Wembley Stadium.
Europe · Melfi
1089
The first synod of pope Urban II starts in Melfi, with seventy bishops and twelve abbots in attendance. The synod issues several decrees about church law and deals with the relation with the Greek part of the Church.
On the map: Melfi.
Europe · Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
1919
The Republic of German-Austria signs the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, ceding significant territories to Italy, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia.
On the map: Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
Also on the day’s list of Wikipedia in Spanish, Romanian and Chinese.
Europe · Nyon Conference
1937
Nine nations attend the Nyon Conference to address international piracy in the Mediterranean Sea.
On the map: the coordinates Wikidata gives for the article “Nyon Conference”.
Africa · Basilica of Our Lady of Peace
1990
Pope John Paul II consecrated the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, one of the largest churches in the world, in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast.
On the map: Basilica of Our Lady of Peace.
Also on the day’s list of Wikipedia in Chinese.
North America · Colony of Virginia
1607
Edward Maria Wingfield is ousted as first president of the governing council of the Colony of Virginia; he is replaced by John Ratcliffe.
On the map: Colony of Virginia.
North America · Kennedy Space Center
2024
Polaris Dawn, the first private crewed spaceflight to involve a spacewalk, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
On the map: Kennedy Space Center.
10 September
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 Chinese, Romanian and Spanish and were translated for this page.
From Wikipedia in Chinese · Darjeeling
1946
After boarding a train to Darjeeling in India, Teresa of Calcutta decides to serve India's poor.
On the map: Darjeeling.
Translated from the list on Wikipedia in Chinese.
From Wikipedia in Romanian · Munich Olympic Stadium
1972
The United States suffers its first loss in an international basketball game, in a match against the Soviet Union at the Summer Olympic Games in Munich, Germany (score 51-50).
On the map: Munich Olympic Stadium.
Translated from the list on Wikipedia in Romanian.
The article on Wikipedia in Romanian: Jocurile Olimpice de vară din 1972
From Wikipedia in Spanish · Museum of Modern Art
1981
The painting Guernica (by Pablo Picasso) returns to Spain from the Museum of Modern Art in New York, together with the 23 sketches that complete it.
On the map: Museum of Modern Art.
Translated from the list on Wikipedia in Spanish.
10 September
Born on 10 September#
The English Wikipedia lists 254 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 September
1892
Arthur Compton, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1962)
Place of birth: Wooster.
Born on 10 September
1960
Colin Firth, English actor and producer
Place of birth: Grayshott.
Born on 10 September
1933
Karl Lagerfeld, German-French fashion designer and photographer (died 2019)
Place of birth: Hamburg.
Born on 10 September
1839
Charles Sanders Peirce, American mathematician, statistician, and philosopher (died 1914)
Place of birth: Cambridge.
Born in Britain and Ireland
1659
Henry Purcell, English organist and composer (died 1695)
Place of birth: Westminster.
Born in Britain and Ireland
1968
Guy Ritchie, English director, producer, and screenwriter
Place of birth: Hatfield.
Born in Britain and Ireland
1995
Jack Grealish, English footballer
Place of birth: Birmingham.
10 September
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 September 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 September
The list is the English Wikipedia’s, in its own wording, as it stood in October 2026. 26 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.
- 422
Election of pope Celestine I following the death of pope Boniface I earlier that month.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Pope Celestine I - 506
The bishops of Visigothic Gaul meet in the Council of Agde.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Council of Agde - 1089
The first synod of pope Urban II starts in Melfi, with seventy bishops and twelve abbots in attendance. The synod issues several decrees about church law and deals with the relation with the Greek part of the Church.
Europe · MelfiWikipedia: Synod of Melfi - 1419
John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy is assassinated by adherents of the Dauphin, the future Charles VII of France.
Europe · Assassination of John the FearlessWikipedia: Assassination of John the Fearless - 1509
An earthquake known as "The Lesser Judgment Day" hits Constantinople.
Asia · 1509 Constantinople earthquakeWikipedia: 1509 Constantinople earthquake - 1515
Thomas Wolsey is invested as a Cardinal.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Thomas Wolsey - 1547
The Battle of Pinkie, the last full-scale military confrontation between England and Scotland, resulting in a decisive victory for the forces of Edward VI.
Britain & Ireland · Battle of PinkieWikipedia: Battle of Pinkie - 1561
Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima: Takeda Shingen defeats Uesugi Kenshin in the climax of their ongoing conflicts.
Asia · Battles of KawanakajimaWikipedia: Battles of Kawanakajima - 1570
Spanish Jesuit missionaries land in present-day Virginia to establish the short-lived Ajacán Mission.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Ajacán Mission - 1573
German pirate Klein Henszlein and 33 of his crew are beheaded in Hamburg.
Europe · HamburgWikipedia: Klein Henszlein - 1607
Edward Maria Wingfield is ousted as first president of the governing council of the Colony of Virginia; he is replaced by John Ratcliffe.
North America · Colony of VirginiaWikipedia: Edward Maria Wingfield - 1608
John Smith is elected council president of Jamestown, Virginia.
no place on the mapWikipedia: John Smith - 1622
Fifty-five Christians are executed in Nagasaki during the Great Genna Martyrdom.
Asia · Great Genna MartyrdomWikipedia: Great Genna Martyrdom - 1640
Reapers' War: Junta de Braços (Assembly of Estates) of the Principality of Catalonia summoned. It assumes the sovereignty and enacts a series of revolutionary measures which will lead to the Catalan Republic.
Europe · Principality of CataloniaWikipedia: Reapers' War - 1724
Johann Sebastian Bach leads the first performance of Jesu, der du meine Seele, BWV 78, a chorale cantata based on a passion hymn by Johann Rist.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Johann Sebastian Bach - 1776
American Revolutionary War: Nathan Hale volunteers to spy for the Continental Army.
no place on the mapWikipedia: American Revolutionary War - 1779
American Revolutionary War: Captain William Pickles of the Continental Navy boarded and captured the British sloop HMS West Florida at the Battle of Lake Pontchartrain.
North America · Battle of Lake PontchartrainWikipedia: Battle of Lake Pontchartrain - 1798
At the Battle of St. George's Caye, British Honduras defeats Spain.
Latin America · Battle of St. George's CayeWikipedia: Battle of St. George's Caye - 1813
The United States defeats a British Fleet at the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812.
North America · Battle of Lake ErieWikipedia: Battle of Lake Erie - 1844
The treaty of Tangier ends the Franco-Moroccan War, which Morocco lost, and forces it to recognise the French possessions in Algeria.
Africa · TangierWikipedia: Treaty of Tangier - 1845
John Doubleday completed a "masterly" restoration of the Portland Vase, which had been smashed into hundreds of pieces seven months prior.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Portland Vase - 1846
Elias Howe is granted a patent for the sewing machine.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Elias Howe - 1858
George Mary Searle discovers the asteroid 55 Pandora.
no place on the mapWikipedia: George Mary Searle - 1897
Lattimer massacre: A sheriff's posse kills 19 unarmed striking immigrant miners in Lattimer, Pennsylvania, United States.
North America · Lattimer massacreWikipedia: Lattimer massacre - 1898
Empress Elisabeth of Austria is assassinated by Luigi Lucheni.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Empress Elisabeth of Austria - 1918
Russian Civil War: The Red Army captures Kazan.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Russian Civil War - 1919
The Republic of German-Austria signs the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, ceding significant territories to Italy, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia.
Europe · Château de Saint-Germain-en-LayeWikipedia: Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye - 1932
The New York City Subway's third competing subway system, the municipally owned IND, is opened.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Independent Subway System - 1936
The first world individual Speedway World Championship was held at London's Wembley Stadium.
Britain & Ireland · Wembley StadiumWikipedia: Wembley Stadium - 1937
Nine nations attend the Nyon Conference to address international piracy in the Mediterranean Sea.
Europe · Nyon ConferenceWikipedia: Nyon Conference - 1939
World War II: The Canadian declaration of war on Germany receives royal assent.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Canadian declaration of war on Germany - 1939
World War II: The submarine HMS Oxley is mistakenly sunk by the submarine HMS Triton near Norway and becomes the Royal Navy's first loss of a submarine in the war.
no place on the mapWikipedia: World War II - 1942
World War II: The British Army carries out an amphibious landing on Madagascar to re-launch Allied offensive operations in the Madagascar Campaign.
Africa · Battle of MadagascarWikipedia: Battle of Madagascar - 1943
World War II: In the course of Operation Achse, German troops begin their occupation of Rome.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Operation Achse - 1945
Mike the Headless Chicken was decapitated on a farm in Colorado; he survived another 18 months as part of sideshows before choking to death.
North America · ColoradoWikipedia: Mike the Headless Chicken - 1960
At the Summer Olympics in Rome, Abebe Bikila becomes the first sub-Saharan African to win a gold medal, winning the marathon in bare feet.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Abebe Bikila - 1961
A President Airlines Douglas DC-6 crashes just after takeoff from Shannon Airport, Ireland. All 83 passengers and crew are killed.
Britain & Ireland · 1961 President Airlines Douglas DC-6 crashWikipedia: 1961 President Airlines Douglas DC-6 crash - 1961
In the Italian Grand Prix, a crash causes the death of German Formula One driver Wolfgang von Trips and 15 spectators who are hit by his Ferrari, the deadliest accident in F1 history.
Europe · 1961 Italian Grand PrixWikipedia: 1961 Italian Grand Prix - 1967
The people of Gibraltar vote to remain a British dependency rather than becoming part of Spain.
no place on the mapWikipedia: 1967 Gibraltar sovereignty referendum - 1974
Guinea-Bissau gains independence from Portugal.
Africa · Guinea-BissauWikipedia: Guinea-Bissau - 1976
A British Airways Hawker Siddeley Trident and an Inex-Adria DC-9 collide near Zagreb, Yugoslavia, killing 176.
Europe · 1976 Zagreb mid-air collisionWikipedia: 1976 Zagreb mid-air collision - 1976
An Indian Airlines flight is hijacked by six Kashmiri separatists and diverted to Lahore International Airport, where the passengers and crew are released.
Asia · Kashmir conflictWikipedia: Kashmir conflict - 1976
TWA Flight 355 is hijacked by five Croatian nationalists. The hijackers surrender upon landing in Paris.
no place on the mapWikipedia: TWA Flight 355 - 1977
Hamida Djandoubi, convicted of torture and murder, is the last person to be executed by guillotine in France.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Hamida Djandoubi - 1983
Typhoon Ellen dissipated after destroying hundreds of homes across Hong Kong and the Philippines.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Typhoon Ellen - 1990
Pope John Paul II consecrated the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, one of the largest churches in the world, in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast.
Africa · Basilica of Our Lady of PeaceWikipedia: Pope John Paul II - 2000
Operation Barras successfully frees six British soldiers held captive for over two weeks and contributes to the end of the Sierra Leone Civil War.
Africa · Operation BarrasWikipedia: Operation Barras - 2001
Antônio da Costa Santos, mayor of Campinas, Brazil is assassinated.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Antônio da Costa Santos - 2001
During his appearance on the British TV game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, contestant Charles Ingram reaches the £1 million top prize, but it was later revealed that he had cheated to the top prize by listening to coughs from his wife and another contestant.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Charles Ingram - 2002
Switzerland, traditionally a neutral country, becomes a full member of the United Nations.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Foreign relations of Switzerland - 2007
Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif returns to Pakistan after seven years in exile, following a military coup in October 1999.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Nawaz Sharif - 2008
The Large Hadron Collider at CERN, described as the biggest scientific experiment in history, is powered up in Geneva, Switzerland.
Europe · Large Hadron ColliderWikipedia: Large Hadron Collider - 2009
Members of the Atlanta Police Department conducted a raid on a gay bar, with patrons later alleging that their constitutional rights had been violated and the city agreeing to pay over $1 million in settlements.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Atlanta Eagle police raid - 2017
Hurricane Irma makes landfall on Cudjoe Key, Florida as a Category 4, after causing catastrophic damage throughout the Caribbean. Irma resulted in 134 deaths and $77.2 billion (2017 USD) in damage.
North America · Cudjoe Key, FloridaWikipedia: Hurricane Irma - 2024
Polaris Dawn, the first private crewed spaceflight to involve a spacewalk, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
North America · Kennedy Space CenterWikipedia: Polaris Dawn - 2025
A liquefied petroleum gas tank truck overturns and explodes in Iztapalapa, Mexico City, killing 32 people and injuring 90 others.
Latin America · 2025 Iztapalapa tank truck explosionWikipedia: 2025 Iztapalapa tank truck explosion - 2025
American right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk is assassinated while onstage at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
North America · Assassination of Charlie KirkWikipedia: Assassination of Charlie Kirk
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 Chinese, Romanian and Spanish and were translated for this page.
- 1946
After boarding a train to Darjeeling in India, Teresa of Calcutta decides to serve India's poor.
- 1972
The United States suffers its first loss in an international basketball game, in a match against the Soviet Union at the Summer Olympic Games in Munich, Germany (score 51-50).
Europe · Munich Olympic StadiumTranslated from the list on Wikipedia in RomanianWikipedia: Jocurile Olimpice de vară din 1972 - 1981
The painting Guernica (by Pablo Picasso) returns to Spain from the Museum of Modern Art in New York, together with the 23 sketches that complete it.
North America · Museum of Modern ArtTranslated from the list on Wikipedia in SpanishWikipedia: Guernica
Who was born on 10 September
In order of how many Wikipedia editions have an article about each. The first 60 of 254 are shown.
- 1964
Jack Ma, Chinese businessman, co-founder of Alibaba Group
HangzhouWikipedia: Jack Ma - 1892
Arthur Compton, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1962)
WoosterWikipedia: Arthur Compton - 1960
Colin Firth, English actor and producer
GrayshottWikipedia: Colin Firth - 1487
Pope Julius III (died 1555)
- 1933
Karl Lagerfeld, German-French fashion designer and photographer (died 2019)
HamburgWikipedia: Karl Lagerfeld - 1839
Charles Sanders Peirce, American mathematician, statistician, and philosopher (died 1914)
CambridgeWikipedia: Charles Sanders Peirce - 1897
Georges Bataille, French philosopher, novelist, and poet (died 1962)
- 1659
Henry Purcell, English organist and composer (died 1695)
WestminsterWikipedia: Henry Purcell - 1937
Jared Diamond, American biologist, geographer, and author
- 1941
Stephen Jay Gould, American paleontologist, biologist, and author (died 2002)
- 1968
Guy Ritchie, English director, producer, and screenwriter
HatfieldWikipedia: Guy Ritchie - 1890
Franz Werfel, Austrian-Bohemian author, poet, and playwright (died 1945)
PragueWikipedia: Franz Werfel - 1958
Chris Columbus, American director, producer, and screenwriter
SpanglerWikipedia: Chris Columbus - 1995
Jack Grealish, English footballer
BirminghamWikipedia: Jack Grealish - 1894
Alexander Dovzhenko, Soviet screenwriter/producer/director of Ukrainian origin (died 1956)
SosnytsiaWikipedia: Alexander Dovzhenko - 1914
Robert Wise, American director and producer (died 2005)
WinchesterWikipedia: Robert Wise - 1974
Ryan Phillippe, American actor and producer
New CastleWikipedia: Ryan Phillippe - 1887
Giovanni Gronchi, Italian soldier and politician, 3rd President of the Italian Republic (died 1978)
PontederaWikipedia: Giovanni Gronchi - 1983
Jérémy Toulalan, French footballer
- 1638
Maria Theresa of Spain (died 1683)
- 1976
Gustavo Kuerten, Brazilian tennis player
FlorianópolisWikipedia: Gustavo Kuerten - 1953
Amy Irving, American actress
Palo AltoWikipedia: Amy Irving - 1945
José Feliciano, Puerto Rican singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1886
H.D., American poet, novelist, and memoirist (died 1961)
BethlehemWikipedia: H.D. - 1915
Edmond O'Brien, American actor (died 1985)
New York CityWikipedia: Edmond O'Brien - 1929
Arnold Palmer, American golfer and businessman (died 2016)
LatrobeWikipedia: Arnold Palmer - 1866
Jeppe Aakjær, Danish author and poet (died 1930)
- 1948
Charles Simonyi, Hungarian-American software architect, businessman, and space tourist
BudapestWikipedia: Charles Simonyi - 1950
Joe Perry, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
LawrenceWikipedia: Joe Perry - 1912
Basappa Danappa Jatti, Indian lawyer and politician, 5th Vice President of India (died 2002)
SavalagiWikipedia: B. D. Jatti - 1939
Cynthia Lennon, first wife of Beatle John Lennon (1962-68), and mother of Julian Lennon (died 2015)
BlackpoolWikipedia: Cynthia Lennon - 1935
Mary Oliver, American poet (died 2019)
Maple HeightsWikipedia: Mary Oliver - 1949
Bill O'Reilly, American journalist and author
New York CityWikipedia: Bill O'Reilly - 1993
Sam Kerr, Australian footballer
East FremantleWikipedia: Sam Kerr - 1898
Bessie Love, American actress (died 1986)
MidlandWikipedia: Bessie Love - 1974
Ben Wallace, American basketball player
White HallWikipedia: Ben Wallace - 2001
Armando Broja, Albanian-born English footballer
SloughWikipedia: Armando Broja - 1860
Marianne von Werefkin, Russian-Swiss painter (died 1938)
- 1890
Elsa Schiaparelli, Italian-French fashion designer (died 1973)
Palazzo CorsiniWikipedia: Elsa Schiaparelli - 1946
Jim Hines, American sprinter and football player (died 2023)
DumasWikipedia: Jim Hines - 1931
Philip Baker Hall, American actor (died 2022)
- 1974
Mirko Filipović, Croatian mixed martial artist, boxer, and politician
VinkovciWikipedia: Mirko Cro Cop - 1991
Sam Morsy, Egyptian footballer
WolverhamptonWikipedia: Sam Morsy - 1928
Jean Vanier, Canadian philosopher and humanitarian, founded L'Arche (died 2019)
GenevaWikipedia: Jean Vanier - 1933
Yevgeny Khrunov, Russian colonel and cosmonaut (died 2000)
- 1946
Michèle Alliot-Marie, French lawyer and politician, French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs
Villeneuve-le-RoiWikipedia: Michèle Alliot-Marie - 1960
Alison Bechdel, American author and illustrator
Lock HavenWikipedia: Alison Bechdel - 1968
Andreas Herzog, Austrian footballer and manager
ViennaWikipedia: Andi Herzog - 1890
Mortimer Wheeler, British archaeologist and officer (died 1976)
GlasgowWikipedia: Mortimer Wheeler - 1864
Carl Correns, German botanist and geneticist (died 1933)
MunichWikipedia: Carl Correns - 1978
Ramūnas Šiškauskas, Lithuanian basketball player
KaišiadorysWikipedia: Ramūnas Šiškauskas - 1624
Thomas Sydenham, English physician and author (died 1689)
Wynford EagleWikipedia: Thomas Sydenham - 1786
Nicolás Bravo, Mexican soldier and politician, 11th President of Mexico (died 1854)
Chilpancingo de los BravoWikipedia: Nicolás Bravo - 1857
James Edward Keeler, American astronomer (rings of Saturn) (died 1900)
- 1968
Big Daddy Kane, American rapper, producer, and actor
BrooklynWikipedia: Big Daddy Kane - 1995
Matt Rife, American comedian and actor
ColumbusWikipedia: Matt Rife - 1714
Niccolò Jommelli, Italian composer (died 1774)
- 1903
Cyril Connolly, English author and critic (died 1974)
CoventryWikipedia: Cyril Connolly - 1963
Randy Johnson, American baseball player
Walnut CreekWikipedia: Randy Johnson - 1982
Misty Copeland, American ballerina and author
Kansas CityWikipedia: Misty Copeland
What is celebrated on 10 September
- Amerindian Heritage Day (Guyana)
- Children's Day (Honduras)
- Christian feast day: Alexander Crummell (Episcopal Church)
- Christian feast day: Ambrose Barlow
- Christian feast day: Aubert
- Christian feast day: Blessed Sebastian Kimura, Charles Spinola, and Martyrs of Nagasaki
- Christian feast day: Edmund James Peck (Anglican Church of Canada)
- Christian feast day: Nicholas of Tolentino
- Christian feast day: Theodard of Maastricht
- Christian feast day: September 10 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Gibraltar National Day
- Saint George's Caye Day (Belize)
- Teachers' Day (China)
- World Suicide Prevention Day
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.