A birthday on the globe
22 April on the globe: what happened in the world on this day, and who was born
For 22 April, the English Wikipedia lists 42 events and 163 births. 28 of the events stand at their places as rays of light; two 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 22 April through the years
The Earth on 22 April
The picture on the globe was assembled by NASA from satellite photographs taken in April 2004: the snow, the ice and the green are those of the month.
On 22 April the Sun passes straight overhead at noon along the parallel of 12.3° north. In London, the day lasts about 14 hours 20 minutes.
Beyond 78° north the Sun no longer sets; beyond 78° 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 · London
1930
The United Kingdom, Japan and the United States sign the London Naval Treaty regulating submarine warfare and limiting shipbuilding.
On the map: London.
Also on the day’s list of Wikipedia in Chinese.
Europe · Zaragoza
1529
Treaty of Zaragoza divides the eastern hemisphere between Spain and Portugal along a line 297.5 leagues (1,250 kilometres (780 mi)) east of the Moluccas.
On the map: Zaragoza.
Also on the day’s list of Wikipedia in Spanish.
Europe · Athens
1906
The 1906 Intercalated Games open in Athens.
On the map: Athens.
Also on the day’s list of Wikipedia in Chinese.
Europe · Paris Agreement
2016
The Paris Agreement is signed, an agreement to help fight global warming.
On the map: Paris Agreement.
Also on the day’s list of Wikipedia in Chinese.
Latin America · Veracruz
1519
Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés establishes a settlement at Veracruz, Mexico.
On the map: Veracruz.
Also on the day’s list of Wikipedia in Spanish.
North America · United States Congress
1864
The U.S. Congress passes the Coinage Act of 1864 that permitted the inscription In God We Trust be placed on all coins minted as United States currency.
On the map: United States Congress.
North America · Jefferson Street Grounds
1876
The first National League baseball game is played at the Jefferson Street Grounds in Philadelphia.
On the map: Jefferson Street Grounds.
North America · Oklahoma City
1889
At noon, thousands rush to claim land in the Land Rush of 1889. Within hours the cities of Oklahoma City and Guthrie are formed with populations of at least 10,000.
On the map: Oklahoma City.
22 April
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 · Orchard Pavilion
353
The calligrapher Wang Xizhi of the Eastern Jin dynasty holds a gathering with Xie An, Sun Chuo and other eminent figures, and afterwards writes the Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion about it.
On the map: Orchard Pavilion.
Translated from the list on Wikipedia in Chinese.
From Wikipedia in Chinese · Constance
1418
The antipope John XXIII convenes the Council of Constance in Constance, and the Western Schism of the Catholic Church ends.
On the map: Constance.
Translated from the list on Wikipedia in Chinese.
From Wikipedia in Spanish · Paris
1978
In Paris (France), the song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" by Izhar Cohen & The Alpha-Beta wins the 23rd Eurovision Song Contest for Israel.
On the map: Paris.
Translated from the list on Wikipedia in Spanish.
22 April
Born on 22 April#
The English Wikipedia lists 163 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 22 April
1724
Immanuel Kant, German anthropologist, philosopher, and academic (died 1804)
Place of birth: Königsberg.
Born on 22 April
1899
Vladimir Nabokov, Russian-born novelist and critic (died 1977)
Place of birth: Saint Petersburg.
Born on 22 April
1904
J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist and academic (died 1967)
Place of birth: Manhattan.
Born on 22 April
1937
Jack Nicholson, American actor and producer
Place of birth: Neptune City.
Born on 22 April
1943
Louise Glück, American poet (died 2023)
Place of birth: New York City.
Born in Britain and Ireland
1707
Henry Fielding, English novelist and playwright (died 1754)
Place of birth: Sharpham.
Born in Britain and Ireland
1929
Michael Atiyah, English-Lebanese mathematician and academic (died 2019)
Place of birth: Hampstead.
Born in Britain and Ireland
1926
James Stirling, Scottish architect, designed the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart and Seeley Historical Library (died 1992)
Place of birth: Glasgow.
22 April
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: 22 April 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 22 April
The list is the English Wikipedia’s, in its own wording, as it stood in October 2026. 12 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.
- 960
Basil II is crowned co-Emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
Asia · Byzantine EmpireWikipedia: Basil II - 1073
Election of Pope Gregory VII following the death of Pope Alexander II.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Pope Gregory VII - 1500
Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral lands in Brazil (discovery of Brazil).
Latin America · BrazilWikipedia: Discovery of Brazil - 1519
Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés establishes a settlement at Veracruz, Mexico.
Latin America · VeracruzWikipedia: Conquistador - 1529
Treaty of Zaragoza divides the eastern hemisphere between Spain and Portugal along a line 297.5 leagues (1,250 kilometres (780 mi)) east of the Moluccas.
Europe · ZaragozaWikipedia: Treaty of Zaragoza - 1622
Anglo-Persian forces combined to capture the Portuguese garrison at Hormuz Island in the Persian Gulf.
Asia · Hormuz IslandWikipedia: Anglo-Persian capture of Hormuz - 1809
The second day of the Battle of Eckmühl: The Austrian army is defeated by the First French Empire army led by Napoleon and driven over the Danube in Regensburg.
Europe · MunichWikipedia: Battle of Eckmühl - 1836
Texas Revolution: A day after the Battle of San Jacinto, forces under Texas General Sam Houston identify Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna among the captives of the battle when some of his fellow soldiers mistakenly give away his identity.
North America · Battle of San JacintoWikipedia: Battle of San Jacinto - 1864
The U.S. Congress passes the Coinage Act of 1864 that permitted the inscription In God We Trust be placed on all coins minted as United States currency.
North America · United States CongressWikipedia: United States Congress - 1876
The first National League baseball game is played at the Jefferson Street Grounds in Philadelphia.
North America · Jefferson Street GroundsWikipedia: National League - 1885
The first meeting of the Colonial Defence Committee, a standing committee of the British Colonial Office, was held to discuss the defence of Barbados.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Colonial Defence Committee - 1889
At noon, thousands rush to claim land in the Land Rush of 1889. Within hours the cities of Oklahoma City and Guthrie are formed with populations of at least 10,000.
North America · Oklahoma CityWikipedia: Land Rush of 1889 - 1898
Spanish–American War: President William McKinley calls for 125,000 volunteers to join the National Guard and fight in Cuba, while Congress more than doubles regular Army forces to 65,000.
North America · United States CongressWikipedia: Spanish–American War - 1906
The 1906 Intercalated Games open in Athens.
Europe · AthensWikipedia: 1906 Intercalated Games - 1915
World War I: The use of poison gas in World War I escalates when chlorine gas is released as a chemical weapon in the Second Battle of Ypres.
Europe · Second Battle of YpresWikipedia: World War I - 1918
The short-lived Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic was established on territory formerly part of the Russian Empire.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic - 1930
The United Kingdom, Japan and the United States sign the London Naval Treaty regulating submarine warfare and limiting shipbuilding.
Britain & Ireland · LondonWikipedia: London Naval Treaty - 1944
World War II: In Greenland, the Allied Sledge Patrol attack the German Bassgeiger weather station.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Greenland in World War II - 1944
World War II: Operation Persecution is initiated: Allied forces land in the Hollandia (currently known as Jayapura) area of New Guinea.
Oceania · AitapeWikipedia: Landing at Aitape - 1944
World War II: The 1st Air Commando Group using Sikorsky R-4 helicopters stage the first use of helicopters in combat with combat search and rescue operations in the China Burma India Theater.
no place on the mapWikipedia: World War II - 1945
World War II: Prisoners at the Jasenovac concentration camp revolt. Five hundred twenty are killed and around eighty escape.
Europe · Jasenovac concentration campWikipedia: Jasenovac concentration camp - 1945
World War II: Sachsenhausen concentration camp is liberated by soldiers of the Red Army and Polish First Army.
Europe · Sachsenhausen concentration campWikipedia: Sachsenhausen concentration camp - 1948
Arab–Israeli War: The port city of Haifa is captured by Jewish forces.
Asia · HaifaWikipedia: 1948 Arab–Israeli War - 1951
Korean War: The Chinese People's Volunteer Army begin assaulting positions defended by the Royal Australian Regiment and the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry at the Battle of Kapyong.
Asia · Battle of KapyongWikipedia: Korean War - 1954
Red Scare: Witnesses begin testifying and live television coverage of the Army–McCarthy hearings begins.
no place on the mapWikipedia: McCarthyism - 1966
American Flyers Airline Flight 280/D crashes on approach to Ardmore Municipal Airport in Ardmore, Oklahoma, killing 83.
North America · American Flyers Airline Flight 280/DWikipedia: American Flyers Airline Flight 280/D - 1969
British yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston wins the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race and completes the first solo non-stop circumnavigation of the world.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Robin Knox-Johnston - 1969
The formation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) is announced at a mass rally in Calcutta.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Communist Party of India - 1970
Chicano residents in San Diego, California occupy a site under the Coronado Bridge, leading to the creation of Chicano Park.
North America · San DiegoWikipedia: San Diego–Coronado Bridge - 1970
The first Earth Day is celebrated.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Earth Day - 1974
Pan Am Flight 812 crashes on approach to Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, killing all 107 people on board.
Asia · Pan Am Flight 812Wikipedia: Pan Am Flight 812 - 1977
Optical fiber is first used to carry live telephone traffic.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Optical fiber - 1992
A series of gas explosions rip through the streets in Guadalajara, Mexico, killing 206.
Latin America · 1992 Guadalajara explosionsWikipedia: 1992 Guadalajara explosions - 1993
Eighteen-year-old Stephen Lawrence is murdered in a racially motivated attack while waiting for a bus in Well Hall, Eltham.
Britain & Ireland · Murder of Stephen LawrenceWikipedia: Murder of Stephen Lawrence - 2000
In a pre-dawn raid, U.S. federal agents seized six-year-old Elián González from his relatives' home in Miami and returned him to his Cuban father.
North America · MiamiWikipedia: Elián González - 2004
Flammable cargo exploded at a railway station in Ryongchon, North Korea, killing at least 54 people and injuring more than a thousand others.
Asia · Ryongchon CountyWikipedia: Ryongchon disaster - 2005
Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi apologizes for Japan's war record.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Junichiro Koizumi - 2013
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested two men who were plotting to commit terrorist attacks against Via Rail operations.
no place on the mapWikipedia: 2013 Via Rail Canada terrorism plot - 2016
The Paris Agreement is signed, an agreement to help fight global warming.
Europe · Paris AgreementWikipedia: Paris Agreement - 2020
Four police officers are killed after being struck by a truck on the Eastern Freeway in Melbourne while speaking to a speeding driver, marking the largest loss of police lives in Victoria Police history.
Oceania · 2020 Eastern Freeway truck crashWikipedia: 2020 Eastern Freeway truck crash - 2022
American climate activist Wynn Bruce set himself on fire outside the United States Supreme Court Building in an apparent protest against the climate crisis.
North America · Washington, D.C.Wikipedia: Self-immolation of Wynn Bruce - 2025
At least 26 people are killed in a terrorist attack on a group of tourists in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba claimed responsibility for the attack.
Asia · 2025 Pahalgam attackWikipedia: 2025 Pahalgam attack
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.
- 353
The calligrapher Wang Xizhi of the Eastern Jin dynasty holds a gathering with Xie An, Sun Chuo and other eminent figures, and afterwards writes the Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion about it.
- 1418
The antipope John XXIII convenes the Council of Constance in Constance, and the Western Schism of the Catholic Church ends.
- 1978
In Paris (France), the song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" by Izhar Cohen & The Alpha-Beta wins the 23rd Eurovision Song Contest for Israel.
Who was born on 22 April
In order of how many Wikipedia editions have an article about each. The first 60 of 163 are shown.
- 1870
Vladimir Lenin, Russian revolutionary and founder of Soviet Russia (died 1924)
UlyanovskWikipedia: Vladimir Lenin - 1724
Immanuel Kant, German anthropologist, philosopher, and academic (died 1804)
KönigsbergWikipedia: Immanuel Kant - 1899
Vladimir Nabokov, Russian-born novelist and critic (died 1977)
Saint PetersburgWikipedia: Vladimir Nabokov - 1904
J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist and academic (died 1967)
ManhattanWikipedia: J. Robert Oppenheimer - 1937
Jack Nicholson, American actor and producer
Neptune CityWikipedia: Jack Nicholson - 1957
Donald Tusk, Polish journalist and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Poland
GdańskWikipedia: Donald Tusk - 1909
Rita Levi-Montalcini, Italian neurologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2012)
- 1451
Isabella I of Castile (died 1504)
Monasterio de Nuestra Señora de GraciaWikipedia: Isabella I of Castile - 1943
Louise Glück, American poet (died 2023)
New York CityWikipedia: Louise Glück - 1982
Kaká, Brazilian footballer
GamaWikipedia: Kaká - 1766
Germaine de Staël, French author and political philosopher (died 1817)
- 1986
Amber Heard, American actress
AustinWikipedia: Amber Heard - 1707
Henry Fielding, English novelist and playwright (died 1754)
SharphamWikipedia: Henry Fielding - 1610
Pope Alexander VIII (died 1691)
- 1987
David Luiz, Brazilian footballer
DiademaWikipedia: David Luiz - 1876
Róbert Bárány, Austrian-Swedish otologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1936)
ViennaWikipedia: Robert Bárány - 1854
Henri La Fontaine, Belgian lawyer and author, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1943)
BrusselsWikipedia: Henri La Fontaine - 1916
Yehudi Menuhin, American-Swiss violinist and conductor (died 1999)
New York CityWikipedia: Yehudi Menuhin - 1928
Estelle Harris, American actress and comedian (died 2022)
New York CityWikipedia: Estelle Harris - 1929
Michael Atiyah, English-Lebanese mathematician and academic (died 2019)
HampsteadWikipedia: Michael Atiyah - 1919
Donald J. Cram, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2001)
ChesterWikipedia: Donald J. Cram - 1884
Otto Rank, Austrian-American psychologist and academic (died 1939)
ViennaWikipedia: Otto Rank - 1942
Giorgio Agamben, Italian philosopher and academic
- 1922
Charles Mingus, American bassist, composer, and bandleader (died 1979)
NogalesWikipedia: Charles Mingus - 1966
Jeffrey Dean Morgan, American actor
- 1974
Shavo Odadjian, Armenian-American bassist
YerevanWikipedia: Shavo Odadjian - 1518
Antoine of Navarre (died 1562)
- 1936
Glen Campbell, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (died 2017)
BillstownWikipedia: Glen Campbell - 1946
John Waters, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
BaltimoreWikipedia: John Waters - 1658
Giuseppe Torelli, Italian violinist and composer (died 1709)
- 1979
Zoltán Gera, Hungarian international footballer and manager
- 1960
Mart Laar, Estonian historian and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Estonia
ViljandiWikipedia: Mart Laar - 1852
William IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (died 1912)
Biebrich PalaceWikipedia: William IV of Luxembourg - 1914
Michael Wittmann, German SS officer (died 1944)
VogelthalWikipedia: Michael Wittmann - 1923
Bettie Page, American model and actress (died 2008)
NashvilleWikipedia: Bettie Page - 1887
Harald Bohr, Danish mathematician and footballer (died 1951)
CopenhagenWikipedia: Harald Bohr - 1909
Indro Montanelli, Italian journalist and historian (died 2001)
FucecchioWikipedia: Indro Montanelli - 1926
James Stirling, Scottish architect, designed the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart and Seeley Historical Library (died 1992)
GlasgowWikipedia: James Stirling - 1944
Steve Fossett, American businessman, pilot, and sailor (died 2007)
JacksonWikipedia: Steve Fossett - 1906
Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten (died 1947)
Stockholm PalaceWikipedia: Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten - 1946
Paul Davies, English physicist and author
LondonWikipedia: Paul Davies - 1592
Wilhelm Schickard, German astronomer and mathematician (died 1635)
HerrenbergWikipedia: Wilhelm Schickard - 1858
Ethel Smyth, English composer (died 1944)
SidcupWikipedia: Ethel Smyth - 1912
Kathleen Ferrier, English operatic singer (died 1953)
Higher WaltonWikipedia: Kathleen Ferrier - 1923
Aaron Spelling, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (died 2006)
- 1971
Eric Mabius, American actor
HarrisburgWikipedia: Eric Mabius - 1950
Peter Frampton, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
BromleyWikipedia: Peter Frampton - 1970
Regine Velasquez, Filipino singer and actress
BalagtasWikipedia: Regine Velasquez - 1938
Issey Miyake, Japanese fashion designer (died 2022)
HiroshimaWikipedia: Issey Miyake - 1952
Marilyn Chambers, American actress (died 2009)
ProvidenceWikipedia: Marilyn Chambers - 1891
Harold Jeffreys, English mathematician, geophysicist, and astronomer (died 1989)
FatfieldWikipedia: Harold Jeffreys - 1874
Wu Peifu, Chinese warlord, politician, and marshal of the Beiyang Army (died 1939)
Penglai DistrictWikipedia: Wu Peifu - 1950
Lee Tamahori, New Zealand film director (died 2025)
WellingtonWikipedia: Lee Tamahori - 1872
Princess Margaret of Prussia (died 1954)
- 1873
Ellen Glasgow, American author (died 1945)
RichmondWikipedia: Ellen Glasgow - 1917
Sidney Nolan, Australian painter (died 1992)
CarltonWikipedia: Sidney Nolan - 1959
Ryan Stiles, American-Canadian actor and comedian
SeattleWikipedia: Ryan Stiles - 1912
Kaneto Shindo, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2012)
HiroshimaWikipedia: Kaneto Shindo - 1939
Jason Miller, American actor and playwright (died 2001)
QueensWikipedia: Jason Miller - 1967
Sherri Shepherd, American actress, comedian, and television personality
ChicagoWikipedia: Sherri Shepherd
What is celebrated on 22 April
- Christian feast day: Acepsimas of Hnaita and companions (Catholic Church)
- Christian feast day: Arwald
- Christian feast day: Epipodius and Alexander
- Christian feast day: Hudson Stuck (Episcopal Church)
- Christian feast day: John Muir (Episcopal Church)
- Christian feast day: Opportuna of Montreuil
- Christian feast day: Pope Caius
- Christian feast day: Pope Soter
- Christian feast day: St Senorina
- Christian feast day: Theodore of Sykeon
- Christian feast day: April 22 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Discovery Day (Brazil)
- Earth Day (International observance) and its related observance: International Mother Earth Day
- Holocaust Remembrance Day (Serbia)
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.