A birthday on the globe
22 July on the globe: what happened in the world on this day, and who was born
For 22 July, the English Wikipedia lists 64 events and 227 births. 41 of the events stand at their places as rays of light; six more are dashed circles, where the sentence links only to a country or a sea. The taller the ray, the longer ago it happened. The people born that day come further down, as blue points.
A birthday, yours or someone else’s:
Turn it into a greetingScroll: the globe turns to each place
The day you were born, on the globe.
Three things from your day
Scroll: your day first, then 22 July through the years
The Earth on 22 July
The picture on the globe was assembled by NASA from satellite photographs taken in July 2004: the snow, the ice and the green are those of the month.
On 22 July the Sun passes straight overhead at noon along the parallel of 20.3° north. In London, the day lasts about 15 hours 55 minutes.
Beyond 70° north the Sun no longer sets; beyond 70° 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 · Paris
1894
The first ever motor race is held in France between the cities of Paris and Rouen. The fastest finisher was the Comte Jules-Albert de Dion, but the "official" victory was awarded to Albert Lemaître driving his three-horsepower petrol engined Peugeot.
On the map: Paris.
Also on the day’s list of Wikipedia in Spanish.
North America · Roanoke Island
1587
Roanoke Colony: A second group of English settlers arrives on Roanoke Island off North Carolina to re-establish the deserted colony.
On the map: Roanoke Island.
Also on the day’s list of Wikipedia in Chinese.
North America · Cleveland
1796
Surveyors of the Connecticut Land Company name an area in Ohio "Cleveland" after Gen. Moses Cleaveland, the superintendent of the surveying party.
On the map: Cleveland.
North America · Supreme Court of the United States
1937
New Deal: The United States Senate votes down President Franklin D. Roosevelt's proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court of the United States.
On the map: Supreme Court of the United States.
22 July
What the other Wikipedias remember#
For these years the English list has nothing on this day. The events below come from the same day’s lists on Wikipedia in Spanish and Chinese and were translated for this page.
From Wikipedia in Spanish · London
1919
In London, The Three-Cornered Hat by Manuel de Falla premieres, with sets by Pablo Picasso.
On the map: London.
Translated from the list on Wikipedia in Spanish.
The article on Wikipedia in Spanish: El sombrero de tres picos
From Wikipedia in Spanish · London
2006
In London (England), the Emirates Stadium, home of Arsenal Football Club, opens.
On the map: London.
Translated from the list on Wikipedia in Spanish.
From Wikipedia in Chinese · solar eclipse of July 22, 2009
2009
The largest total solar eclipse of the 21st century (the Great Yangtze River Eclipse) occurs; the Moon's shadow crosses south-eastern Asia and reaches the waters near Polynesia in the Pacific.
On the map: solar eclipse of July 22, 2009.
Translated from the list on Wikipedia in Chinese.
22 July
Born on 22 July#
The English Wikipedia lists 227 births for this day. The blue points are the birthplaces of 59 of these people: those written about in the most Wikipedia editions, where Wikidata gives a place of birth.
Born on 22 July
1992
Selena Gomez, American singer and actress
Place of birth: Grand Prairie.
Born on 22 July
1887
Gustav Ludwig Hertz, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1975)
Place of birth: Hamburg.
Born on 22 July
1878
Janusz Korczak, Polish pediatrician and author (died 1942)
Place of birth: Warsaw.
Born on 22 July
1784
Friedrich Bessel, German mathematician and astronomer (died 1846)
Place of birth: Minden.
Born in Britain and Ireland
1967
Rhys Ifans, Welsh actor
Place of birth: Haverfordwest.
Born in Britain and Ireland
1938
Terence Stamp, English actor (died 2025)
Place of birth: Stepney.
Born in Britain and Ireland
1984
Stewart Downing, English footballer
Place of birth: Middlesbrough.
22 July
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 July 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 July
The list is the English Wikipedia’s, in its own wording, as it stood in October 2026. 17 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.
- 259
Election of Pope Dionysius after the death of Pope Sixtus II in the persecutions of Emperor Valerian in the previous year.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Pope Dionysius - 838
Battle of Anzen: The Byzantine emperor Theophilos suffers a heavy defeat by the Abbasids.
Asia · Battle of AnzenWikipedia: Battle of Anzen - 1099
First Crusade: Godfrey of Bouillon is elected the first Defender of the Holy Sepulchre of The Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Asia · Church of the Holy SepulchreWikipedia: First Crusade - 1209
Massacre at Béziers: The first major military action of the Albigensian Crusade.
Europe · Massacre at BéziersWikipedia: Massacre at Béziers - 1227
A coalition of north-east German towns, counts and princes defeats King Valdemar II of Denmark in the Battle of Bornhöved.
Europe · Battle of BornhövedWikipedia: Battle of Bornhöved - 1298
Wars of Scottish Independence: Battle of Falkirk: King Edward I of England and his longbowmen defeat William Wallace and his Scottish schiltrons outside the town of Falkirk.
Britain & Ireland · Battle of FalkirkWikipedia: Battle of Falkirk - 1342
St. Mary Magdalene's flood is the worst such event on record for central Europe.
no place on the mapWikipedia: St. Mary Magdalene's flood - 1443
Battle of St. Jakob an der Sihl in the Old Zürich War.
Europe · Battle of St. Jakob an der SihlWikipedia: Battle of St. Jakob an der Sihl - 1456
Ottoman wars in Europe: Siege of Belgrade: John Hunyadi, Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary, defeats Mehmet II of the Ottoman Empire.
Europe · Ottoman wars in EuropeWikipedia: Ottoman wars in Europe - 1484
Battle of Lochmaben Fair: A 500-man raiding party led by Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany and James Douglas, 9th Earl of Douglas are defeated by Scots forces loyal to Albany's brother James III of Scotland; Douglas is captured.
Britain & Ireland · Battle of Lochmaben FairWikipedia: Battle of Lochmaben Fair - 1499
Battle of Dornach: The Swiss decisively defeat the army of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor.
Europe · Battle of DornachWikipedia: Battle of Dornach - 1587
Roanoke Colony: A second group of English settlers arrives on Roanoke Island off North Carolina to re-establish the deserted colony.
North America · Roanoke IslandWikipedia: Roanoke Colony - 1594
The Dutch city of Groningen defended by the Spanish and besieged by a Dutch and English army under Maurice of Orange, capitulates.
Europe · GroningenWikipedia: Groningen - 1598
William Shakespeare's play, The Merchant of Venice, is entered on the Stationers' Register. By decree of Queen Elizabeth, the Stationers' Register licensed printed works, giving the Crown tight control over all published material.
no place on the mapWikipedia: William Shakespeare - 1686
Albany, New York is formally chartered as a municipality by Governor Thomas Dongan.
North America · Albany, New YorkWikipedia: Albany, New York - 1691
Williamite forces defeated the Jacobites at the Battle of Aughrim, the decisive battle of the Williamite War in Ireland.
Britain & Ireland · Battle of AughrimWikipedia: Battle of Aughrim - 1706
The Acts of Union 1707 are agreed upon by commissioners from the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland, which, when passed by each country's Parliament, leads to the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Acts of Union 1707 - 1793
Alexander Mackenzie reaches the Pacific Ocean becoming the first recorded human to complete a transcontinental crossing of North America.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Alexander Mackenzie - 1796
Surveyors of the Connecticut Land Company name an area in Ohio "Cleveland" after Gen. Moses Cleaveland, the superintendent of the surveying party.
North America · ClevelandWikipedia: Connecticut Land Company - 1797
Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife: Battle between Spanish and British naval forces during the French Revolutionary Wars. During the Battle, Rear-Admiral Nelson is wounded in the arm and the arm had to be partially amputated.
Europe · Battle of Santa Cruz de TenerifeWikipedia: Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife - 1802
Emperor Gia Long conquers Hanoi and unified Viet Nam, which had experienced centuries of feudal warfare.
Asia · HanoiWikipedia: Gia Long - 1805
Napoleonic Wars: War of the Third Coalition: Battle of Cape Finisterre: An inconclusive naval action is fought between a combined French and Spanish fleet under Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve of France and a British fleet under Admiral Robert Calder.
Europe · Battle of Cape FinisterreWikipedia: Battle of Cape Finisterre - 1812
Napoleonic Wars: Peninsular War: Battle of Salamanca: British forces led by Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington) defeat French troops near Salamanca, Spain.
Europe · Battle of SalamancaWikipedia: Battle of Salamanca - 1817
Windham William Sadler made the first successful aerial crossing of the Irish Sea, which he accomplished by balloon.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Windham Sadler - 1833
The Slavery Abolition Act passes in the British House of Commons, initiating the gradual abolition of slavery in most parts of the British Empire.
Britain & Ireland · British EmpireWikipedia: Slavery Abolition Act 1833 - 1864
American Civil War: In the Battle of Atlanta, Confederate General John Bell Hood leads an unsuccessful attack on Union troops under General William T. Sherman on Bald Hill outside Atlanta.
North America · Battle of AtlantaWikipedia: American Civil War - 1880
Abdur Rahman is proclaimed emir of Afghanistan after having been accepted as ruler by the British.
Britain & Ireland · British EmpireWikipedia: Abdur Rahman Khan - 1893
Katharine Lee Bates writes "America the Beautiful" after admiring the view from the top of Pikes Peak near Colorado Springs, Colorado.
North America · Pikes PeakWikipedia: Katharine Lee Bates - 1894
The first ever motor race is held in France between the cities of Paris and Rouen. The fastest finisher was the Comte Jules-Albert de Dion, but the "official" victory was awarded to Albert Lemaître driving his three-horsepower petrol engined Peugeot.
Europe · ParisWikipedia: Paris–Rouen - 1916
Preparedness Day Bombing: In San Francisco, a bomb explodes on Market Street during a parade, killing ten and injuring 40.
North America · Preparedness Day bombingWikipedia: Preparedness Day bombing - 1921
Rif War: The Spanish Army suffers its worst military defeat in modern times to the Berbers of the Rif region of Spanish Morocco.
Africa · Battle of AnnualWikipedia: Rif War - 1933
Aviator Wiley Post returns to Floyd Bennett Field in New York City, completing the first solo flight around the world in seven days, 18 hours and 49 minutes.
North America · Floyd Bennett FieldWikipedia: Wiley Post - 1936
Spanish Civil War: The Popular Executive Committee of Valencia takes power in the Valencian Community.
Europe · Valencian CommunityWikipedia: Spanish Civil War - 1937
New Deal: The United States Senate votes down President Franklin D. Roosevelt's proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court of the United States.
North America · Supreme Court of the United StatesWikipedia: Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937 - 1942
Grossaktion Warsaw: The systematic deportation of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto begins.
Europe · Grossaktion WarsawWikipedia: Grossaktion Warsaw - 1942
The United States government begins compulsory civilian gasoline rationing due to the wartime demands.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Gasoline - 1943
World War II: Allied forces capture Palermo during the Allied invasion of Sicily.
no place on the mapWikipedia: World War II - 1943
World War II: Axis occupation forces violently disperse a massive protest in Athens, killing 22.
Europe · AthensWikipedia: Axis powers - 1944
The Polish Committee of National Liberation publishes its manifesto, starting the period of Communist rule in Poland.
Europe · Polish People's RepublicWikipedia: Polish Committee of National Liberation - 1946
King David Hotel bombing: A Zionist underground organisation, the Irgun, bombs the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, site of the civil administration and military headquarters for Mandatory Palestine, resulting in 91 deaths.
Asia · King David Hotel bombingWikipedia: King David Hotel bombing - 1951
Soviet space dogs: Dezik and Tsygan were launched into a sub-orbital spaceflight from Kapustin Yar and became the first dogs to fly in space and the first to safely return.
Europe · Kapustin YarWikipedia: Soviet space dogs - 1954
A limited state of martial law was declared in Russell County, Alabama, due to organized crime.
North America · Russell County, AlabamaWikipedia: Declaration of martial law in Russell County, Alabama - 1962
Mariner program: Mariner 1 spacecraft flies erratically several minutes after launch and has to be destroyed.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Mariner program - 1963
Crown Colony of Sarawak gains self-governance.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Crown Colony of Sarawak - 1963
The United Kingdom granted self-government to Sarawak; the day would be celebrated as Sarawak Day.
Asia · SarawakWikipedia: Sarawak - 1973
Pan Am Flight 816 crashes after takeoff from Faa'a International Airport in Papeete, French Polynesia, killing 78.
Oceania · Pan Am Flight 816Wikipedia: Pan Am Flight 816 - 1975
Stanley Forman took the Pulitzer Prize–winning photo Fire Escape Collapse, which spurred action to improve the safety of fire escapes across the United States.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Stanley Forman - 1976
Japan completes its last reparation to the Philippines for war crimes committed during imperial Japan's conquest of the country in the Second World War.
Asia · PhilippinesWikipedia: Philippines - 1977
Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping is restored to power.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Deng Xiaoping - 1981
The first game of the 1981 South Africa rugby union tour of New Zealand and the United States is held in Gisborne, New Zealand.
- 1983
Martial law in Poland is officially revoked.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Martial law in Poland - 1990
Greg LeMond, an American road racing cyclist, wins his third Tour de France after leading the majority of the race. It was LeMond's second consecutive Tour de France victory.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Greg LeMond - 1991
American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, after police discovered human remains in his apartment.
North America · MilwaukeeWikipedia: Serial killer - 1992
Near Medellín, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar escapes from his luxury prison fearing extradition to the United States.
Latin America · MedellínWikipedia: Medellín - 1993
Great Flood of 1993: Levees near Kaskaskia, Illinois rupture, forcing the entire town to evacuate by barges operated by the Army Corps of Engineers.
North America · Great Flood of 1993Wikipedia: Great Flood of 1993 - 1997
The second Blue Water Bridge opens between Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario.
North America · Port Huron, MichiganWikipedia: Blue Water Bridge - 1997
Written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda, One Piece, the best-selling manga series in history, debuted in Weekly Shōnen Jump.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Eiichiro Oda - 2002
The Israel Defense Forces bombed the home of Salah Shehade, the leader of the military arm of Hamas, killing him, his family and neighboring civilians.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Israel Defense Forces - 2003
Iraq War: Members of 101st Airborne of the United States, aided by Special Forces, attack a compound in Iraq, killing Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay, along with Mustapha Hussein, Qusay's 14-year-old son, and a bodyguard.
Asia · Killing of Qusay and Uday HusseinWikipedia: Killing of Qusay and Uday Hussein - 2005
Jean Charles de Menezes is killed by police as the hunt begins for the London Bombers responsible for the 7 July 2005 London bombings and the 21 July 2005 London bombings.
Britain & Ireland · 7 July 2005 London bombingsWikipedia: Killing of Jean Charles de Menezes - 2011
Norway attacks: A bomb explodes, targeted at government buildings in central Oslo, followed by a massacre at a youth camp on the island of Utøya.
Europe · 2011 Norway attacksWikipedia: 2011 Norway attacks - 2012
Syrian civil war: The People's Protection Units (YPG) captured the cities of Serê Kaniyê and Dirbêsiyê, during clashes with pro-government forces in Al-Hasakah.
Asia · Ras al-AynWikipedia: Syrian civil war - 2013
Dingxi earthquakes: A series of earthquakes in Dingxi, China, kills at least 89 people and injures more than 500 others.
Asia · 2013 Dingxi earthquakesWikipedia: 2013 Dingxi earthquakes - 2019
Chandrayaan-2, the second lunar exploration mission developed by Indian Space Research Organisation after Chandrayaan-1 is launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in a GSLV Mark III M1. It consists of a lunar orbiter, and also included the Vikram lander, and the Pragyan lunar rover.
Asia · ISROWikipedia: Chandrayaan-2
What the other Wikipedias remember
For these years the English list has nothing on this day. The events below come from the same day’s lists on Wikipedia in Spanish and Chinese and were translated for this page.
- 1919
In London, The Three-Cornered Hat by Manuel de Falla premieres, with sets by Pablo Picasso.
Britain & Ireland · LondonTranslated from the list on Wikipedia in SpanishWikipedia: El sombrero de tres picos - 2006
In London (England), the Emirates Stadium, home of Arsenal Football Club, opens.
Britain & Ireland · LondonTranslated from the list on Wikipedia in SpanishWikipedia: Emirates Stadium - 2009
The largest total solar eclipse of the 21st century (the Great Yangtze River Eclipse) occurs; the Moon's shadow crosses south-eastern Asia and reaches the waters near Polynesia in the Pacific.
Oceans · solar eclipse of July 22, 2009Translated from the list on Wikipedia in ChineseWikipedia: 2009年7月22日日食
Who was born on 22 July
In order of how many Wikipedia editions have an article about each. The first 60 of 227 are shown.
- 1992
Selena Gomez, American singer and actress
Grand PrairieWikipedia: Selena Gomez - 1887
Gustav Ludwig Hertz, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1975)
- 1955
Willem Dafoe, American actor
AppletonWikipedia: Willem Dafoe - 1878
Janusz Korczak, Polish pediatrician and author (died 1942)
- 2013
Prince George of Wales
St Mary's HospitalWikipedia: Prince George of Wales - 1784
Friedrich Bessel, German mathematician and astronomer (died 1846)
- 1888
Selman Waksman, Jewish-American biochemist and microbiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1973)
Nova PrylukaWikipedia: Selman Waksman - 1960
John Leguizamo, Colombian-American actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1934
Louise Fletcher, American actress (died 2022)
BirminghamWikipedia: Louise Fletcher - 1980
Dirk Kuyt, Dutch footballer
KatwijkWikipedia: Dirk Kuyt - 1998
Federico Valverde, Uruguayan footballer
- 1882
Edward Hopper, American painter and etcher (died 1967)
- 1923
Bob Dole, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (died 2021)
RussellWikipedia: Bob Dole - 1998
Marc Cucurella, Spanish footballer
- 1478
Philip I of Castile (died 1506)
- 1946
Danny Glover, American actor, director, and producer
San FranciscoWikipedia: Danny Glover - 1974
Franka Potente, German actress
MünsterWikipedia: Franka Potente - 1898
Alexander Calder, American sculptor, known for his kinetic sculptures (died 1976)
LawntonWikipedia: Alexander Calder - 1964
David Spade, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
BirminghamWikipedia: David Spade - 1973
Rufus Wainwright, American-Canadian singer-songwriter
RhinebeckWikipedia: Rufus Wainwright - 1963
Emilio Butragueño, Spanish footballer
- 1967
Rhys Ifans, Welsh actor
HaverfordwestWikipedia: Rhys Ifans - 1980
Kate Ryan, Belgian singer-songwriter
TessenderloWikipedia: Kate Ryan - 1938
Terence Stamp, English actor (died 2025)
StepneyWikipedia: Terence Stamp - 1965
Shawn Michaels, American wrestler, trainer, and actor
ChandlerWikipedia: Shawn Michaels - 1984
Stewart Downing, English footballer
MiddlesbroughWikipedia: Stewart Downing - 1647
Margaret Mary Alacoque, French nun, mystic and saint (died 1690)
VerosvresWikipedia: Margaret Mary Alacoque - 1980
Scott Dixon, New Zealand racing driver
BrisbaneWikipedia: Scott Dixon - 1899
Sobhuza II of Swaziland (died 1982)
ZombodzeWikipedia: Sobhuza II - 1947
Albert Brooks, American actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter
Beverly HillsWikipedia: Albert Brooks - 1949
Alan Menken, American pianist and composer
New RochelleWikipedia: Alan Menken - 1949
Lasse Virén, Finnish runner and police officer
MyrskyläWikipedia: Lasse Virén - 1978
Dennis Rommedahl, Danish footballer
CopenhagenWikipedia: Dennis Rommedahl - 1947
Don Henley, American singer-songwriter and drummer
GilmerWikipedia: Don Henley - 1941
George Clinton, American singer-songwriter and producer
KannapolisWikipedia: George Clinton - 1849
Emma Lazarus, American poet and educator (died 1887)
New York CityWikipedia: Emma Lazarus - 1940
Alex Trebek, Canadian-American game show host and producer (died 2020)
Greater SudburyWikipedia: Alex Trebek - 1978
A.J. Cook, Canadian actress
OshawaWikipedia: A. J. Cook - 1890
Rose Kennedy, American philanthropist and Kennedy family matriarch (died 1995)
North EndWikipedia: Rose Kennedy - 1932
Oscar de la Renta, Dominican-American fashion designer (died 2014)
Santo DomingoWikipedia: Oscar de la Renta - 1946
Paul Schrader, American director and screenwriter
Grand RapidsWikipedia: Paul Schrader - 1954
Al Di Meola, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
Jersey CityWikipedia: Al Di Meola - 1987
Charlotte Kalla, Swedish skier
- 1559
Lawrence of Brindisi, Italian priest and saint (died 1619)
BrindisiWikipedia: Lawrence of Brindisi - 1839
Jakob Hurt, Estonian theologist and linguist (died 1907)
HimmasteWikipedia: Jakob Hurt - 1946
Johnson Toribiong, Palauan lawyer and politician, 7th President of Palau
- 1989
Israel Adesanya, New Zealand mixed martial artist and kickboxer
- 1991
Tomi Juric, Australian footballer
SydneyWikipedia: Tomi Juric - 1932
Tom Robbins, American novelist (died 2025)
Blowing RockWikipedia: Tom Robbins - 1943
Kay Bailey Hutchison, American lawyer and politician
GalvestonWikipedia: Kay Bailey Hutchison - 1889
James Whale, English director (died 1957)
DudleyWikipedia: James Whale - 1970
Jason Becker, American guitarist and songwriter
RichmondWikipedia: Jason Becker - 1962
Steve Albini, American record producer and musician (died 2024)
PasadenaWikipedia: Steve Albini - 1969
Despina Vandi, German-Greek singer and actress
TübingenWikipedia: Despina Vandi - 1998
Madison Pettis, American actress
ArlingtonWikipedia: Madison Pettis - 1943
Masaru Emoto, Japanese author and activist (died 2014)
YokohamaWikipedia: Masaru Emoto - 1951
Patriarch Daniel of Romania
- 1988
Thomas Kraft, German footballer
KirchenWikipedia: Thomas Kraft - 2002
Prince Felix of Denmark
RigshospitaletWikipedia: Count Felix of Monpezat - 1713
Jacques-Germain Soufflot, French architect, designed the Panthéon (died 1780)
What is celebrated on 22 July
- Christian feast day: Abd-al-Masih
- Christian feast day: Anna Wang
- Christian feast day: Mary Magdalene
- Christian feast day: Markella
- Christian feast day: Nohra (Maronite Church)
- Christian feast day: Philip Evans and John Lloyd
- Christian feast day: July 22 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Sarawak Independence Day (Sarawak, Malaysia)
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.