A birthday on the globe
15 May on the globe: what happened in the world on this day, and who was born
For 15 May, the English Wikipedia lists 67 events and 251 births. 26 of the events stand at their places as rays of light; four 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 15 May through the years
The Earth on 15 May
The picture on the globe was assembled by NASA from satellite photographs taken in May 2004: the snow, the ice and the green are those of the month.
On 15 May the Sun passes straight overhead at noon along the parallel of 18.9° north. In London, the day lasts about 15 hours 35 minutes.
Beyond 71° north the Sun no longer sets; beyond 71° 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.
Europe · Lombards
589
King Authari marries Theodelinda, daughter of the Bavarian duke Garibald I. A Catholic, she has great influence among the Lombard nobility.
On the map: Lombards.
North America · Supreme Court of the United States
1911
In Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States, the United States Supreme Court declares Standard Oil to be an "unreasonable" monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act and orders the company to be broken up.
On the map: Supreme Court of the United States.
Also on the day’s list of Wikipedia in Chinese.
15 May
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 and Spanish and were translated for this page.
From Wikipedia in Chinese · Exposition Universelle of 1889
1889
In time for the World's Fair, the Eiffel Tower is completed and opens on the Champ de Mars in Paris.
On the map: Exposition Universelle of 1889.
Translated from the list on Wikipedia in Chinese.
From Wikipedia in Spanish · Moscow
1935
In Moscow, the first metro line opens.
On the map: Moscow.
Translated from the list on Wikipedia in Spanish.
15 May
Born on 15 May#
The English Wikipedia lists 251 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 15 May
1859
Pierre Curie, French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1906)
Place of birth: Paris.
Born on 15 May
1891
Mikhail Bulgakov, Russian novelist and playwright (died 1940)
Place of birth: Kyiv.
Born on 15 May
1915
Paul Samuelson, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2009)
Place of birth: Gary.
Born in Britain and Ireland
1948
Brian Eno, English singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
Place of birth: Woodbridge.
Born in Britain and Ireland
1909
James Mason, English actor, producer, and screenwriter (died 1984)
Place of birth: Huddersfield.
Born in Britain and Ireland
1953
Mike Oldfield, English-Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
Place of birth: Reading.
15 May
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: 15 May 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 15 May
The list is the English Wikipedia’s, in its own wording, as it stood in October 2026. 37 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.
- 221
Liu Bei, Chinese warlord, proclaims himself emperor of Shu Han, the successor of the Han dynasty.
Asia · Han dynastyWikipedia: Liu Bei - 392
Emperor Valentinian II is assassinated while advancing into Gaul against the Frankish usurper Arbogast. He is found hanging in his residence at Vienne.
Europe · Vienne, IsèreWikipedia: Valentinian II - 589
King Authari marries Theodelinda, daughter of the Bavarian duke Garibald I. A Catholic, she has great influence among the Lombard nobility.
Europe · LombardsWikipedia: Authari - 756
Abd al-Rahman I, the founder of the Arab dynasty that ruled the greater part of Iberia for nearly three centuries, becomes emir of Cordova, Spain.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Abd al-Rahman I - 908
Constantine VII is crowned Byzantine co-emperor.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Constantine VII - 1194
Michael the Syrian reconsecrates the Mor Bar Sauma Monastery, which he reconstructed after its destruction by a fire. The monastery stays a center of the Syriac Orthodox Church until the end of the thirteenth century.
Asia · Mor Bar Sauma MonasteryWikipedia: Michael the Syrian - 1252
Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad extirpanda, which authorizes, but also limits, the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Pope Innocent IV - 1525
Insurgent peasants led by Anabaptist pastor Thomas Müntzer are defeated at the Battle of Frankenhausen, ending the German Peasants' War in the Holy Roman Empire.
Europe · Battle of FrankenhausenWikipedia: Battle of Frankenhausen - 1532
The English church submits to the king of England in passing a convocation in which it surrenders a number of rights, such as to make provincial ecclesiastic laws independently of the king.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Church of England - 1536
Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, stands trial in London on charges of treason, adultery and incest; she is condemned to death by a specially-selected jury.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Anne Boleyn - 1567
The wedding of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Earl of Bothwell, the chief instigator of the murder of her previous husband Lord Darnley, takes place.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Wedding of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Earl of Bothwell - 1571
Venice, Spain, Naples, the Papal States, and other Italian states establish the Holy League to fight the Ottomans, resulting in the victory at Lepanto later that year.
Europe · Battle of LepantoWikipedia: Battle of Lepanto - 1602
Cape Cod is sighted by English navigator Bartholomew Gosnold.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Cape Cod - 1648
The Peace of Münster is ratified, by which Spain acknowledges Dutch sovereignty.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Peace of Münster - 1725
Bach leads the first performance of his cantata Ich bin ein guter Hirt, BWV 85, about Jesus as the Good Shepherd.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Johann Sebastian Bach - 1791
French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre proposes the Self-denying Ordinance.
no place on the mapWikipedia: French Revolution - 1836
Francis Baily observes "Baily's beads" during an annular eclipse.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Francis Baily - 1849
The Sicilian revolution of 1848 is finally extinguished.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Sicilian revolution of 1848 - 1850
The Arana–Southern Treaty is ratified, ending "the existing differences" between Great Britain and Argentina.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Arana–Southern Treaty - 1851
The first Australian gold rush is proclaimed, although the discovery had been made three months earlier.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Australian gold rushes - 1855
Thieves stole 224 pounds (102 kg) of gold from a train travelling from London to Folkestone, England.
Britain & Ireland · LondonWikipedia: Great Gold Robbery - 1862
Fertilisation of Orchids, the first book by Charles Darwin which demonstrated the power of natural selection in detail, was published.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Fertilisation of Orchids - 1864
American Civil War: Battle of New Market, Virginia: Students from the Virginia Military Institute fight alongside the Confederate army to force Union General Franz Sigel out of the Shenandoah Valley.
North America · Battle of New MarketWikipedia: Battle of New Market - 1869
Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton founded the National Woman Suffrage Association, breaking away from the American Equal Rights Association which they had also previously founded.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Susan B. Anthony - 1891
Pope Leo XIII defends workers' rights and property rights in the encyclical Rerum novarum, the beginning of modern Catholic social teaching.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Pope Leo XIII - 1904
Russo-Japanese War: The Japanese battleships Hatsuse and Yashima sank after striking several mines off Port Arthur, China.
Asia · LüshunkouWikipedia: Russo-Japanese War - 1911
In Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States, the United States Supreme Court declares Standard Oil to be an "unreasonable" monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act and orders the company to be broken up.
North America · Supreme Court of the United StatesWikipedia: Supreme Court of the United States - 1911
More than 300 Chinese immigrants are killed in the Torreón massacre when the forces of the Mexican Revolution led by Emilio Madero take the city of Torreón from the Federales.
Latin America · Torreón massacreWikipedia: Torreón massacre - 1912
During a match, baseball star Ty Cobb enters the stands and assaults a fan who had heckled him, leading to his suspension.
no place on the mapWikipedia: 1912 suspension of Ty Cobb - 1916
A seventeen-year-old farmworker, Jesse Washington, is lynched in Waco, Texas, USA, after being convicted of rape and murder.
North America · Lynching of Jesse WashingtonWikipedia: Lynching of Jesse Washington - 1918
The Finnish Civil War ends when the Whites take over Fort Ino, a Russian coastal artillery base on the Karelian Isthmus, from Russian troops.
Europe · Fort InoWikipedia: Finnish Civil War - 1919
Greek occupation of Smyrna. During the occupation, the Greek army kills or wounds 350 Turks; those responsible are punished by Greek commander Aristides Stergiades.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Occupation of Smyrna - 1919
The Winnipeg general strike begins. By 11:00, almost the whole working population of Winnipeg had walked off the job.
North America · Winnipeg general strikeWikipedia: Winnipeg general strike - 1928
Mickey and Minnie Mouse made their film debuts in the animated cartoon Plane Crazy.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Mickey Mouse - 1929
A fire at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio kills 123.
North America · Cleveland Clinic fire of 1929Wikipedia: Cleveland Clinic fire of 1929 - 1932
In an attempted coup d'état, the Prime Minister of Japan, Inukai Tsuyoshi, is assassinated.
Asia · May 15 incidentWikipedia: May 15 incident - 1933
All military aviation organizations within or under the control of the RLM of Germany are officially merged in a covert manner to form its Wehrmacht military's air arm, the Luftwaffe.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Wehrmacht - 1934
A self coup by prime minister Kārlis Ulmanis succeeds in Latvia, suspending its constitution and dissolving its Saeima.
Europe · LatviaWikipedia: 1934 Latvian coup d'état - 1940
Richard and Maurice McDonald open the first McDonald's restaurant.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Richard and Maurice McDonald - 1940
USS Sailfish is recommissioned. It was originally the USS Squalus.
no place on the mapWikipedia: USS Sailfish - 1940
World War II: The Battle of the Netherlands: After fierce fighting, the poorly trained and equipped Dutch troops surrender to Germany, marking the beginning of five years of occupation.
no place on the mapWikipedia: German invasion of the Netherlands - 1941
First flight of the Gloster E.28/39, the first British and Allied jet aircraft.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Gloster E.28/39 - 1942
World War II: In the United States, a bill creating the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) is signed into law.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Women's Army Corps - 1943
Joseph Stalin dissolves the Comintern (or Third International).
no place on the mapWikipedia: Joseph Stalin - 1945
The British Army directed fleeing Croatian soldiers to surrender to the Yugoslav Partisans, beginning the Bleiburg repatriations.
Europe · BleiburgWikipedia: Bleiburg repatriations - 1945
World War II: The Battle of Poljana, the final skirmish in Europe, is fought near Prevalje, Slovenia.
Europe · Battle of PoljanaWikipedia: Battle of Poljana - 1948
Following the expiration of The British Mandate for Palestine, the Kingdom of Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia invade Israel, thus starting the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
no place on the mapWikipedia: 1948 Arab–Israeli War - 1953
Don Murphy organized the first pinewood derby, an event for Cub Scouts of the Boy Scouts of America where wooden cars built by the scouts are raced.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Pinewood derby - 1957
At Malden Island in the Pacific Ocean, Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb in Operation Grapple.
Oceania · Malden IslandWikipedia: Operation Grapple - 1963
Project Mercury: The launch of the final Mercury mission, Mercury-Atlas 9 with astronaut Gordon Cooper on board. He becomes the first American to spend more than a day in space, and the last American to go into space alone.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Project Mercury - 1966
Disapproving of General Tôn Thất Đính's handling of the Buddhist Uprising, South Vietnamese prime minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳ ordered an attack on his forces and ousted Đính from his post.
Asia · Da NangWikipedia: Buddhist Uprising - 1970
Police opened fire during a confrontation with a group of Jackson State College students, killing two students and injuring twelve others.
North America · Jackson State killingsWikipedia: Jackson State killings - 1970
President Richard Nixon appoints Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington as the first female United States Army generals.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Richard Nixon - 1972
The Ryukyu Islands, under U.S. military governance since their conquest in 1945, revert to Japanese control.
Asia · Ryukyu IslandsWikipedia: Battle of Okinawa - 1974
Ma'alot massacre: Members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine attack and take hostages at an Israeli school; a total of 31 people are killed, including 22 schoolchildren.
Asia · Ma'alot massacreWikipedia: Ma'alot massacre - 1976
Aeroflot Flight 1802 crashes near Viktorivka, Chernihiv Raion, Chernihiv Oblast, killing 52.
Europe · Aeroflot Flight 1802Wikipedia: Aeroflot Flight 1802 - 1988
Soviet–Afghan War: After more than eight years of fighting, the Soviet Army begins to withdraw 115,000 troops from Afghanistan.
Asia · AfghanistanWikipedia: Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan - 1990
Vincent van Gogh's Portrait of Dr. Gachet was sold at auction at Christie's in New York for US$82.5 million, making it the world's most expensive painting at the time.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Vincent van Gogh - 1991
Édith Cresson becomes France's first female Prime Minister.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Édith Cresson - 1997
The Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-84 to dock with the Russian space station Mir.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Space Shuttle Atlantis - 1997
The United States government acknowledges the existence of the "Secret War" in Laos and dedicates the Laos Memorial in honor of Hmong and other "Secret War" veterans.
North America · Laos MemorialWikipedia: Laotian Civil War - 2001
A CSX EMD SD40-2 8888 rolls out of a train yard in Walbridge, Ohio, with 47 freight cars, including some tank cars with flammable chemical, after its engineer fails to reboard it after setting a yard switch. It travels south driverless for 66 miles (106 km) until it is brought to a halt near Kenton. The incident became the inspiration for the 2010 film Unstoppable.
North America · WalbridgeWikipedia: CSX 8888 incident - 2004
Arsenal F.C. go an entire league campaign unbeaten in the English Premier League, joining Preston North End F.C. with the right to claim the title "The Invincibles".
no place on the mapWikipedia: Arsenal F.C. - 2008
California becomes the second U.S. state after Massachusetts in 2004 to legalize same-sex marriage after the state's own Supreme Court rules a previous ban unconstitutional.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Same-sex marriage in California - 2010
Jessica Watson becomes the youngest person to sail, non-stop and unassisted around the world solo.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Jessica Watson - 2013
An upsurge in violence in Iraq leaves more than 389 people dead over three days.
Asia · IraqWikipedia: May 2013 Iraq attacks - 2024
Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico is shot and critically injured while meeting with supporters at an event in Handlová.
Europe · Attempted assassination of Robert FicoWikipedia: Attempted assassination of Robert Fico
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 and Spanish and were translated for this page.
- 1889
In time for the World's Fair, the Eiffel Tower is completed and opens on the Champ de Mars in Paris.
Europe · Exposition Universelle of 1889Translated from the list on Wikipedia in ChineseWikipedia: 1889年世界博览会 - 1935
In Moscow, the first metro line opens.
Who was born on 15 May
In order of how many Wikipedia editions have an article about each. The first 60 of 251 are shown.
- 1859
Pierre Curie, French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1906)
- 1891
Mikhail Bulgakov, Russian novelist and playwright (died 1940)
- 1937
Madeleine Albright, Czech-American politician and diplomat, 64th United States Secretary of State (died 2022)
- 1982
Layal Abboud, Lebanese singer
Kniseh, TyreWikipedia: Layal Abboud - 1773
Klemens von Metternich, German-Austrian politician, 1st State Chancellor of the Austrian Empire (died 1859)
- 1915
Paul Samuelson, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2009)
- 1987
Andy Murray, Scottish tennis player
GlasgowWikipedia: Andy Murray - 1845
Élie Metchnikoff, Russian zoologist (died 1916)
IvanivkaWikipedia: Élie Metchnikoff - 1567
Claudio Monteverdi, Italian priest and composer (died 1643)
- 1997
Ousmane Dembélé, French footballer
- 1862
Arthur Schnitzler, Austrian author and playwright (died 1931)
- 1967
Madhuri Dixit, Indian actress
MumbaiWikipedia: Madhuri Dixit - 1397
Sejong the Great, Korean king of Joseon (died 1450)
Tongin-dongWikipedia: Sejong the Great - 1856
L. Frank Baum, American novelist (died 1919)
ChittenangoWikipedia: L. Frank Baum - 1911
Max Frisch, Swiss playwright and novelist (died 1991)
ZurichWikipedia: Max Frisch - 1951
Frank Wilczek, American mathematician and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
MineolaWikipedia: Frank Wilczek - 1981
Patrice Evra, French footballer
- 1964
Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Danish lawyer and politician, 40th Prime Minister of Denmark
- 1848
Viktor Vasnetsov, Russian painter and illustrator (died 1926)
- 1948
Brian Eno, English singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
WoodbridgeWikipedia: Brian Eno - 1909
James Mason, English actor, producer, and screenwriter (died 1984)
HuddersfieldWikipedia: James Mason - 1953
Mike Oldfield, English-Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
ReadingWikipedia: Mike Oldfield - 1970
Frank de Boer, Dutch footballer and manager
- 1944
Ulrich Beck, German sociologist and academic (died 2015)
SłupskWikipedia: Ulrich Beck - 1996
Birdy, English singer-songwriter
LymingtonWikipedia: Birdy - 1689
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, English writer (died 1762)
Holme PierrepontWikipedia: Lady Mary Wortley Montagu - 1905
Joseph Cotten, American actor (died 1994)
PetersburgWikipedia: Joseph Cotten - 1857
Williamina Fleming, Scottish-American astronomer and academic (died 1911)
- 1890
Katherine Anne Porter, American short story writer, novelist, and essayist (died 1980)
Indian CreekWikipedia: Katherine Anne Porter - 1901
Luis Monti, Argentinian-Italian footballer and manager (died 1983)
Buenos AiresWikipedia: Luis Monti - 1938
Mireille Darc, French actress, director, and screenwriter (died 2017)
ToulonWikipedia: Mireille Darc - 1970
Ronald de Boer, Dutch footballer and manager
- 1930
Jasper Johns, American painter and sculptor
AugustaWikipedia: Jasper Johns - 1952
Chazz Palminteri, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
The BronxWikipedia: Chazz Palminteri - 1982
Veronica Campbell-Brown, Jamaican sprinter
Clark's TownWikipedia: Veronica Campbell Brown - 1981
Zara Phillips, English equestrian
St Mary's HospitalWikipedia: Zara Tindall - 1986
Matías Fernández, Chilean footballer
Buenos AiresWikipedia: Matías Fernández - 1898
Arletty, French model, actress, and singer (died 1992)
CourbevoieWikipedia: Arletty - 1926
Peter Shaffer, English playwright and screenwriter (died 2016)
LiverpoolWikipedia: Peter Shaffer - 1967
Simen Agdestein, Norwegian chess grandmaster and football player
- 1903
Maria Reiche, German mathematician and archaeologist (died 1998)
DresdenWikipedia: Maria Reiche - 1968
Cecilia Malmström, Swedish academic and politician, 15th European Commissioner for Trade
StockholmWikipedia: Cecilia Malmström - 1976
Jacek Krzynówek, Polish footballer
KamieńskWikipedia: Jacek Krzynówek - 1987
Ersan İlyasova, Turkish basketball player
EskişehirWikipedia: Ersan İlyasova - 1923
Richard Avedon, American sailor and photographer (died 2004)
New York CityWikipedia: Richard Avedon - 1937
Trini Lopez, American singer, guitarist, and actor (died 2020)
DallasWikipedia: Trini Lopez - 2000
Dayana Yastremska, Ukrainian tennis player
- 1895
Prescott Bush, American captain, banker, and politician (died 1972)
ColumbusWikipedia: Prescott Bush - 1993
Tomáš Kalas, Czech international footballer
OlomoucWikipedia: Tomáš Kalas - 1942
Jusuf Kalla, Indonesian businessman and politician, 10th Vice President of Indonesia
WatamponeWikipedia: Jusuf Kalla - 1948
Kathleen Sebelius, American politician, 44th Governor of Kansas
CincinnatiWikipedia: Kathleen Sebelius - 1989
Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, French footballer
- 1817
Debendranath Tagore, Indian philosopher and author (died 1905)
- 1960
Rimas Kurtinaitis, Lithuanian basketball player and coach
- 1985
Cristiane, Brazilian footballer
- 1808
Michael William Balfe, Irish composer and conductor (died 1870)
- 1970
Ben Wallace, English captain and politician
FarnboroughWikipedia: Ben Wallace - 1978
David Krumholtz, American actor
New York CityWikipedia: David Krumholtz - 1978
Edu, Brazilian footballer
São PauloWikipedia: Edu - 1981
Jamie-Lynn Sigler, American actress and singer
JerichoWikipedia: Jamie-Lynn Sigler
What is celebrated on 15 May
- Aoi Matsuri (Kyoto)
- Army Day (Slovenia)
- Christian feast day: Achillius of Larissa
- Christian feast day: Athanasius of Alexandria (Coptic Church)
- Christian feast day: Hallvard Vebjørnsson (Roman Catholic Church)
- Christian feast day: Hilary of Galeata
- Christian feast day: Isidore the Laborer, celebrated with festivals in various countries, the beginning of bullfighting season in Madrid.
- Christian feast day: Jean-Baptiste de La Salle (Roman Catholic Church)
- Christian feast day: Kaleb of Axum
- Christian feast day: Peter, Andrew, Paul, and Denise (Roman Catholic Church)
- Christian feast day: Reticius (Roman Catholic Church)
- Christian feast day: Sophia of Rome (Roman Catholic church)
- Christian feast day: May 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar)
- Constituent Assembly Day (Lithuania)
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.